Crystal's End
by BirdNerd03
Summary: Peridot is given a chance of redemption by Yellow Diamond, but proving herself means helping destroy Earth and The Crystal Gems- The planet she has come to enjoy and the friends that love her. Emotionally conflicted, Peridot must choose between her friends and her home. Takes place between Back to the Barn and It Could've Been Great.
1. Chapter 1: Kidnapped

**Crystal's End**

 **Chapter 1**

It all started on a normal day at the barn. The Gems were taking a break from the drill to just have some fun and relax. Garnet was sitting on a bale of hay, apparently lost in thought, Pearl was organizing the unused pieces of the drill into symmetrical piles, Amethyst was in the barn, looking through some junk to find something to mess with, and Steven was tuning his ukulele and toying with some chords, apparently working on a new song. However, behind the unfinished drill sat a small green gem, sitting with her knees to her chin, forgotten for the moment by the Crystal Gems. Peridot sighed, then pulled out her tape recorder, and pressed the button to begin a log. She kept her high-pitched, raspy voice quiet as not to alert anyone of her recording.

"Log Date, 7 11 2. The progress rate of the cluster drill has increased by nearly five percent, which shows a surprising amount of effort put in by the clods…"

Peridot paused her recording as she noticed a tiny form flit past her eyes. Her gaze followed the small form until it landed on a blade of grass. She stood and walked over to its location to investigate further. Crouching, Peridot discovered that the form belonged to a small organic creature with a spherical shape, colored mostly red with black dots on its back. Confused, she attempted to open her finger screen to research the identification of the creature. However, for what seemed like the millionth time, she remembered that her limb enhancers were gone, and her fingers stayed attached to her tiny hand. Peridot couldn't stop a single tear from forming in the corner of her eye- she missed her limb enhancers. Although she was of very high intelligence, Peridot seemed almost dumb at times due to her lack of knowledge of Earth and its functions and lifeforms. Without her screens, she didn't know anything, and was stuck being the clueless, childish gem that the Crystal Gems saw her as. But she also missed them because the lack of them made her feel… vulnerable. As an Era 2 peridot, she lacked any natural powers, and she was very short in comparison to most other gems. Without her arm cannons and helicopter fingers, she had no way of defending herself and relied on the Gems for protection. She wanted so desperately to just be amazing as herself- not as a cyborg.

Her train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt when a young voice behind her said, "What's up, 'Dot?"

"Yah!" Peridot whirled around in surprise to find herself facing Steven. He smiled apologetically for startling her. Peridot collected her thoughts and said, "I was simply investigating this… Earth creature." She pointed to the small form still occupying the blade of grass. Steven knelt down and studied it, then turned back to Peridot and smiled. "Oh, that's a ladybug!" He said.

Peridot once again looked at the creature. _Ladybug…_ she thought. The "ladybug" seemed to be harmless, so she stuck out one finger and poked it. The ladybug's back opened up to reveal a pair of wings, and the insect took off and flew away. Curious, Peridot turned back to Steven and asked, "Do all creatures on Earth possess flight capabilities?" Steven laughed and jokingly said, "Wow, you really don't know much about Earth, do you?" He giggled. Although he meant it as a joke, his comment struck Peridot as if he had just punched her in the gut. She had never told the others her feelings about her limb enhancers, fearing they would become angry at her for bringing it up. She knew Steven did not mean to hurt her, but it didn't stop the comment from stinging. She said nothing, allowing Steven to continue.

"To answer your question, Peridot, no. Only animals with wings can fly. But did you know that the black spots on a ladybug have to do with how old it is? It gets more spots as it gets older, so a really old ladybug would have tons of spots while a baby one would have an almost completely red shell. Pretty cool, huh?" Steven smiled brightly. Peridot simply nodded her head, still fazed by Steven's previous comment. "Yeah, cool." She said. Steven continued talking. "Isn't Earth amazing, Peridot? There are so many different things living here, each having something special about it that separates it from all the rest. But all of them work together in such a large, complex way, making Earth such a beautiful and harmonized place."

Peridot knew that if Pearl were listening, she would think that Steven sounded exactly like Rose Quartz, and probably get very emotional and start singing or crying. Or both. But Peridot simply just found herself agreeing with Steven. Since she met him and started helping the Crystal Gems to stop the Cluster, she had actually come to enjoy this planet. When she had been trapped on Earth, on the run from the Gems, she had never really paid attention to the Earth, only focusing on a way to contact Homeworld. Although she would never admit it in front of Steven or the others, she still missed Homeworld. She would probably never be accepted there, after working with the enemy and interfering with their plans. But now she actually saw that Earth wasn't so bad. Steven was right- there was so much here, to explore, to discover, to enjoy. Maybe being stuck here wasn't so bad after all.

"Peridot, are you okay?" Steven asked, waving a hand in front of her visor. Peridot snapped out of her thoughts and came back to reality. She looked at Steven and mustered a small smile and assured him, "Yes, Steven, I'm perfectly fine." She didn't want him to think even less of her, less than the small, clueless, cute gem that had to be treated like a human child. If any of them found out that not even her emotions were stable, she couldn't bear it. "Um, Steven, would you mind… leaving me alone for a bit?" Steven looked a bit surprised at her request, but nodded and walked back towards the barn. Peridot walked further out into the field to be more secluded, and once again turned on her tape recorder and continued her log.

"During my stay on Earth, I have actually come to appreciate its beauty. There are many organic lifeforms that create unique resources that might prove… useful. But other than usefulness, this planet has exemplified a certain sense of joy to it. Earth might not actually be so bad, perhaps I might consider staying here permanently and settling with… Mph!"

Peridot dropped her tape recorder as something seized her from behind and clamped a red hand over her mouth. She struggled against her attacker, but could not escape, and she couldn't pry the viselike grip from her mouth. She tried to cry for help, but her screams were muffled. Still kicking and grabbing at the hand on her mouth, three rubies appeared in front of her, studying the small green gem. They all wore uniforms bearing Homeworld's diamond emblem, signifying where they were from. One of them spoke. "This is the one?" it asked. The second punched it on the shoulder and replied, "Duh, do you think there are any other peridots in the area, especially _without_ limb enhancers?" Peridot stopped her struggling at this comment and simply just watched the discussion with horror and panic. The third ruby said, "Cut it out, you two. We got her, now let's just get off this cruddy planet and report back to Yellow Diamond."

Peridot froze and her pupils shrank in fear. _Yellow Diamond?_ What would Yellow Diamond want with her? Some peridot just lost to planet Earth, living with the Crystal Gems. Suddenly she made the connection- she was being taken back to Homeworld to be shattered. What other explanation could there be? She was working with the enemy and messing with Yellow Diamond's stuff. She was probably public enemy number one. Peridot began struggling again- flailing, kicking, and screaming, but to no avail. The ruby holding her laughed. "This one's really putting up a fight. Let's just get her back onto the ship." Then the second Ruby summoned its weapon, a red, electrified whip by the looks of it. Peridot began to tremble. _These must be Era 1 rubies. The newer ones wouldn't have weapons so…_ But she didn't get to finish her thought. Her captor released her, and Peridot was about to make a run for it. But the ruby flung his whip at her, and it coiled around her like a snake to prey. Electricity immediately began working its way through Peridots small, frail form, and she tensed up and fell to the ground in agony. She let out one final scream of pain before her vision faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2: A Diamond's Plans and Gifts

**Hey guys, welcome back to Crystal's End. First, I want to thank you for the support on the previous chapter. I wasn't expecting so much attention to this fanfic to come so quickly. Thank you for the kind reviews as well. I also just wanted to let you know that chapter releases will not be daily (I just had a lot of time this weekend) so expect about 4-7 day intervals on chapters. Buti might release chapter 3 quicker than expected :). So, without further ado, here is chapter 2 of Crystal's End.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Yellow Diamond was sitting in her large hover chair, using a hologram screen to browse and monitor the information on each of the records and reports of all Gems in the field. On a usual day, she would spend the majority of her time sifting through each profile, listening to the most recent logs on each, making sure they were on schedule. But today, Yellow Diamond remained on a single profile, scanning through everything on the page with somewhat more interest than usual.

 _Gem: Peridot- Facet 2F5L, Cut 5XG_

 _Current Mission: Check status of the Cluster with informant Lapis Lazuli (Facet 4K9I, Cut 7HL) and escort Jasper (Facet 2J5X, Cut 9LP) on planet Earth._

 _Status: Behind Schedule; Missing- Presumed Captured or Shattered._

Yellow Diamond gave an exasperated sigh. Whichever type of Gem were in charge of filing these records were slacking- Yellow had forgotten which type they were, they were a part of White Diamond's court. She reminded herself to ask Pearl to see to it later. Yellow now knew that the peridot was indeed alive and well- it was easy to locate her after a fellow peridot stumbled upon the coordinates to her missing escape pod- and Yellow had been trying to research everything that had happened since the peridots presumed capture or shattering. She scrolled down the page to the gem's logs. The last log was dated to 6 5 2, which was a very dull one- simply stating that she was still stuck on Earth and that some Cluster prototypes had emerged early-but was abruptly cut off by a startled yelp from the gem. After listening to this log a while ago, some gem must have assumed that the peridot's log had been cut off due to being discovered by some unknown enemy.

Soon after, reports began flying in of gem activity on Earth. Originally assumed to be the lost gem, Yellow Diamond ignored it. She had gotten the information she needed- the Cluster was still active- so the gem was no longer of importance to her. But when many of the early Cluster prototypes began vanishing, she knew that there was more to this reported "gem activity". Gleaning what little resources she could find, the conclusion to be drawn was that a small piece of the early Earth Rebellion was interfering with Homeworld's plans. Then, as the peridot's missing escape pod was found, Yellow Diamond realized that the gem could be more useful than initially thought. The gem must know about the suspicious gem activity- as made apparent in her last log- and could be useful for eliminating this growing problem. So Yellow sent four rubies to the gem's location to retrieve her. Although they were taking longer than hoped, Yellow Diamond knew that it would be anytime now…

"My Diamond?" said Yellow Pearl, interrupting the diamond's train of thought. Yellow Diamond shook her head, and then turned to her pearl. "Go ahead," she said. Yellow Pearl cleared her throat and said, "My Diamond, you'll be pleased to know that the rubies you assigned to go to Earth have successfully retrieved Peridot Facet 2F5L, Cut 5XG. She is currently in a holding cell, unconscious. I will notify you once she awakens." Yellow Pearl saluted. Yellow Diamond's expression remained stoic and seemingly unmoved, but she smiled inwardly, pleased that the four rubies had actually had success. It was rare these days for rubies to actually succeed at a mission, but that was most likely due to the error of sending Era 2 rubies. Not taking any chances, Yellow Diamond had sent Era 1 rubies. "Very good. Thank you, Pearl." Yellow Diamond said, turning back to her screen.

Yellow Pearl knew that it was considered rude and ungraceful for a pearl to ask their masters a question, as it then appeared that they were questioning their authority. But Yellow Pearl's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Forgive my intrusion, My Diamond, but I couldn't help wondering why someone as mighty and important as you would go through so much trouble for a puny, easily replaceable peridot, especially one that has potentially been working with an enemy. Isn't it a possibility that her loyalties lie elsewhere now?"

Yellow Diamond turned back to her pearl and gave one of her rare smiles. She was aware that a pearl asking a question like so would be a sign of defying authority. However, Yellow Diamond knew her pearl was very loyal and would never question her authority, but she was simply curious. So she answered her. "Pearl, this peridot may be of extremely high value to our cause. She quite likely knows of the alleged gem activity on Earth, and I do not doubt that she is still loyal to me. Peridots such as her are typically very stuck up and arrogant, and even if her loyalties have shifted, she should not be too difficult to manipulate and be persuaded otherwise. It shouldn't be too hard after she discovers my "gift" to her." Yellow Pearl, satisfied with her answer, gave another salute and nodded. Yellow Diamond continued, "Pearl, let Amethysts guarding the peridot's containment cell to bring her to my quarters as soon she awakens. And, as a side task, let White Diamond's document manager gems…"

"The Albites, My Diamond?" Yellow Pearl finished for her. Yellow Diamond waved her hand in an irritated way, "Yes, yes, them. Let them know that they're performance is lacking and if they don't improve I'll have to take it up with White Diamond. That will be all." The diamond clapped twice. Yellow Pearl bowed in acceptance of the command, and then left to carry out the tasks. Yellow Diamond returned to her screen, and pulled open a new slot to edit the profile page. She typed in a few changes and saved it. Satisfied, she finally moved on to the next profile, leaving the peridot's profile at this:

 _Current Mission: To be Assigned._

 _Status: Active- awaiting further instruction._

* * *

Peridot awoke on her side, lying on something cold and metallic. Her eyelids fluttered open, to find herself in a small green cubicle, with the front wall being a yellow, electrified force field. The gem was initially confused about where she was and how she got there. Then she remembered- she had been kidnapped by four Era 1 rubies and taken back to Homeworld- most likely to be shattered. Feeling her strength returning from awakening, Peridot stood up. She moaned softly, her body aching from being electrocuted by the ruby's whip- and then realized that she seemed a lot taller. However, she concluded it only appeared that way due to a low ceiling- the holding cell was very small, after all. Shrugging it off, Peridot proceeded to attempt to walk to the front of the cell- but was surprised to find that the familiar pitter-patter of her small, soft feet was absent. In its place was a loud, metallic clanking sound. Now utterly confused, Peridot looked down. What she saw made her yelp in surprise and fall onto her back in shock.

On her feet were two new leg enhancements, which suddenly, she realized, is why she thought she seemed taller. Stunned, Peridot lifted her arms up for her to see. As she thought, on them was a pair of arm attachments, complete with five floating fingers on each hand. Still completely shocked, she experimentally flexed her fingers, and sure enough, the small stubs copied the movement. Finally comprehending the situation, Peridot's eyes lit up like stars. All surprise and shock now replaced with excitement, she attempted to open up a finger screen on her right hand. Much to her joy, four of the fingers formed a small screen, and left one to operate it with. Peridot, now completely filled with excitement, immediately began filling out the preferences and settings on her new limb enhancers. However, midway through, Peridot stopped as a thought flew across her mind. _Why did I get new limb enhancers?_ If Yellow Diamond wanted to shatter her, why would she bother equipping her with new limb enhancers and waste resources on it in the process? While Peridot was completely puzzled, pondering this, two Amethysts appeared in front of her holding cell. The first one said, "Well, she's awake." and then proceeded to turn off the force field. The second one laughed and said, "Well, duh! You could hear her yelp and fall over from the next galaxy!" Peridot's face flushed, embarrassed. Then the first Amethyst walked in and yanked Peridot up by the arm and pulled her out of the cell. Peridot lost her balance and fell over again, still getting used to having leg enhancements again. The two Amethysts laughed even harder. One said through their giggles, "Oh wow, this one's a riot! Oh well, let's go runt, Yellow Diamond wants to see you."

Peridot initially blushed even harder, upset for making a fool of herself in front of these Amethysts. But as soon as Yellow Diamond was mentioned, Peridot shrank back and started trembling again.

 _Yellow Diamond wants to see me directly?_ But she lifted herself up again, looking away from the Amethysts. One instructed her to follow her and they walked off down the corridor, Peridot trailing behind them. As she began shaking even harder, only one thought raced through her mind: _What does Yellow Diamond want with me?_


	3. Chapter 3: A Brief Questioning

**Hey guys, welcome back to Crystal's End. I honestly couldn't help myself- I had so many ideas for this chapter buzzing around my head that I had to put it down a paper before I forgot. So, here's the early release (And I skipped homework for this, so you're welcome. I'm gonna fail my test lol). Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

"Hey guys, have you seen Peridot anywhere?"

The Crystal Gems turned to Steven and just looked at him in confusion. Pearl was the first to speak. "No, Steven, we haven't. Why?" Steven's expression grew nervous. He hadn't seen Peridot anywhere for a few hours now. She sometimes was known to wander off for a little bit at a time, but she had never been gone this long before. Steven couldn't help but be a little worried for his friend. Garnet then walked up to Steven and put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Steven," she said, "I'm sure Peridot will be fine. She probably just warped somewhere to take a walk or something. Give it until tomorrow morning and I'm sure she'll be back." This eased Steven's nerves a little, but it did not calm him entirely. Garnet noticed this and added, "If she's not back by then, we'll go look for her. I promise." Garnet stood back up and walked back over to her bale of hay. Steven sighed and walked back outside, hoping that Peridot was okay.

* * *

Peridot was a bundle of nerves. The tension in the atmosphere was very high, with the corridor nearly silent, the only audible sound being the light metallic clanking of Peridot's limb enhancers. With her hands behind her back, she knit her artificial fingers together in an anxious manner. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't run- the Amethysts in front of her would surely grab her before she could escape. But then, why would Yellow Diamond want to see her? She was still confused and could find no reasonable explanation for it. She mindlessly continued to walk forward as she became lost in thought. That is, until the Amethysts in front of her abruptly stopped and she bumped into one. Regaining her balance, Peridot mentally slapped herself for looking like such an idiot in front of them. Apparently ignoring Peridot, one Amethyst began typing in something on a screen that apparently was connected to a large door colored yellow with the Homeworld insignia in the middle. Peridot gulped. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was where Yellow Diamond was.

Peridot began trembling again, but this time more with uncontrollable shakes than simple shudders. It was so bad that her limb enhancers began rattling. The Amethyst typing a code into the door looked back. "Ha! Little runt is scared out of her mind." Suddenly two yellow lines crossed diagonally across the door, intersecting in the middle and forming an X. As the door split into four pieces, so did the Homeworld insignia, so when the door opened each colored diamond separated and retracted. The second Amethyst grabbed Peridot and shoved her through the door. "Good luck!" she said, and then added with a slightly nefarious grin, "You'll probably need it." For a second she reminded Peridot of Amethyst, _her_ Amethyst, back on Earth. It was then Peridot realized just how much she missed the Crystal Gems, more than she initially realized. But before she had time to think more about this, the door closed behind her, leaving her feeling terrified in the large, quiet room.

* * *

For a few moments, it was dead quiet. Peridot took a second to study the room; It was simply a large, yellow room constructed of mainly metal. Then she noticed the giant chair in the middle of the room, and the large adaption of a finger screen in front of it.

"Peridot."

The gem in question jumped at the sudden sound. Then the chair shifted, and Yellow Diamond revealed herself to the little green gem as the rotated the chair to face her. Her expression remained stoic as Peridot stood there, shocked for a moment. Then, remembering Homeworld's idea of manners that she had abandoned for so long, she attempted to form a diamond symbol with her arms to salute her superior. However, this proved quite difficult with her limb enhancers, and she ended up forming something more like a warped triangle with no base. _Oh my stars, she's definitely going to kill me now…_

Then, much to Peridot's surprise, Yellow Diamond's stern expression fell and was replaced with a smile and light laugh. She waved her hand dismissively. "At ease, Peridot." She said with a kind tone. Confused, Peridot lowered her arms. This was very uncharacteristic for Yellow Diamond. In a situation such as this, Yellow Diamond would be greatly offended at Peridot's apparent lack of respect and probably send her to be shattered. This proved to be a unique case though. As Yellow Diamond spoke again, the sound of her voice snapped Peridot out of her confused trance-like state.

"First off, I'd like to welcome you back into the Yellow Court. I take it you must have been miserable stuck on Earth. I apologize for not sending help sooner. I also apologize for bringing you here so… forcefully. We didn't want to cause a scene."

If Peridot had been confused by Yellow's behavior before, now she was completely befuddled. A diamond, the most powerful being in the universe, apologizing to a puny peridot? Something wasn't adding up. With a shaky voice, Peridot simply responded with, "No need to apologize, My Diamond. You must have had more important tasks to attend to. I have no anger or resentment towards your decisions." Peridot didn't bother saluting this time. Yellow Diamond gave a light chuckle again. "That is where you are utterly wrong, little Peridot."

The little gem gulped. Had she said something wrong?

Yellow Diamond continued, "You are of utmost importance at the moment. I simply did not send help faster so you could be more useful at this time. There have been reports coming in of suspicious gem activity on Earth. I hoped that leaving you on the planet would help you gather information for me related to this topic."

Peridot froze on the spot. _Suspicious gem activity? That must mean the Crystal Gems._ Did Yellow Diamond know she had been helping them?

"Now," Yellow Diamond resumed after letting the statement sink in, "I do not doubt that your loyalty lies with the authority. So, I trust that you can prove yourself useful to me by providing me with the information I hope you have gathered. So, let me ask you: Are the reports true? Is there a remaining piece of the Rebellion still present?"

Peridot's heart stopped inside her. She didn't know what to do. Answering this question meant betraying the Crystal Gems, betraying _Steven_. But it was in her programming to do anything to please the Diamonds, and that reasoning was always meant to rule over her emotions. So Peridot cleared her throat and boldly said, "Yes, My Diamond, the reports do not lie. There is indeed a leftover Rebellion on Earth, and I even have more knowledge regarding their activity and plans after being taken captive by them, as you most likely know."

Yellow Diamond sighed contentedly. "Thank you, Peridot. By answering this question truthfully, you have indeed proved your allegiance to me and greatly helped Homeworld. I have further instructions for you later on, but first I would like to know all you know about these gems. As I have other things to attend to, an amethyst will escort you to an interrogation room and you will be questioned by a Topaz. I trust you will prove very helpful and make me proud to call you a member of my court. Report back here after your questioning is complete. That will be all." Yellow Diamond clapped twice, and an Amethyst appeared at the door, beckoning Peridot to follow.

As the door closed behind them and the two gems walked back down the corridor, a wave of emotions hit Peridot with the force of a truck. Half of her was overjoyed- she had been useful to her diamond and proved her loyalty to Homeworld. It was in her blood, a natural impulse, which satisfied her when she was useful. However, the other half of her, the part of Peridot that was forced under lock and key while on Homeworld, felt a strong emotion that made Peridot feel… small. Steven had described it to her once- it was called _guilt_. She had betrayed the Crystal Gems and alerted Homeworld to their existence. She then realized Earth had changed her- a gem such as her wasn't meant to feel this way about such things. She should be happy that her diamond had been made happy, but instead she felt worse than ever. She then realized that being on Earth had undone something in her, and revealed a new aspect of life that was meant to be kept a secret. She now knew true emotions.

She was defective.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Mission

**Hey, everyone. You thought I forgot about my promise to release a new chapter every 4-7 days, huh? Nope, I didn't I just had a lot of school stuff and didn't get a chance to write this weekend. So I squeezed in some time right now, and stayed within my criteria at 6 days and 11 hours! Sorry if there are some typos and stuff, it's night time and I'm tired so I just did spell check and didn't proof read. And it's longer than usual. But anyway, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

It was morning.

Steven was really getting nervous now. It was late morning, almost afternoon, and there had been no sign of Peridot since he had seen her the previous evening. Garnet had gone to check the kindergarten and Pearl had gone to the communication hub. Though they didn't quite say it, Steven knew that Pearl had gone to the hub because she still didn't entirely trust the little gem. They might have a truce agreement, but it didn't mean she had a truce with Earth, necessarily. Garnet had probably gone to the kindergarten with the same mindset, but it also might have just been because it was the only location aside from the hub Peridot knew of. This left Steven and Amethyst alone at the barn. Amethyst was tossing a chunk of some unknown object she had found in between her hands, trying to occupy herself. She had wanted to go searching too, but Pearl had made her stay to watch Steven. Steven was nervously pacing just outside the barn door. Amethyst looked up at her friend. His nervousness was contagious- it was making her anxious, too. So she put down the object she had been playing with and walked up to put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Steven stopped his pacing and looked at her.

"Dude, Peri will be _fine_." She said. Amethyst wasn't the best at comfort, but her upbeat and comedic nature helped lift a little of the heavy mood off Steven's back. He gave her a small smile, and she continued. "I know we'll find her. Knowing Peri, she probably got lost somewhere and this will all just be something we'll laugh off." As Amethyst smiled and let go of Steven, he turned back towards the field. Just then, something caught his eye. Among the sea of tall grass, he noticed a small glint of metal protruding from the waves. Curious, he ran over to the mysterious object, to find Peridot's tape recorder lying on its back in a nest of grass. Steven picked it up and turned it over. It was indeed Peridot's, signified by the white strip of paper labeling the tape: _Keep Out!_ Amethyst, having followed, looked at the tape in surprise and shock. Peridot always had her recorder with her. Leaving it out in the field was very out of character for her. Still worried, an idea flashed through Amethyst's mind, and she said to Steven, "Steven, play her last recording. Maybe there's a clue in it to where she went." His hands shaking, Steven re-winded the tape a tiny bit, and hit the play button:

" _Earth might not actually be so bad, perhaps I might consider staying here permanently and settling with… Mph!"_

The tape ended abruptly with what sounded like a muffled yelp matching Peridot's voice. Amethyst and Steven stared at the tape with horror and anxiety. Steven's expression hardened and he said in a weaker voice than he intended, "Amethyst. Go get Garnet and Pearl. Something's definitely wrong." Amethyst nodded slowly and ran to the warp pad a few feet behind the barn. As Steven watched the white beacon shoot up into the air, he clutched Peridot's tape recorder tightly. Turning his gaze towards the sky, he sighed.

"Where are you, Peridot? What's going on?"

* * *

As the door closed behind Peridot, Yellow Diamond didn't even bother turning around. "Welcome back, Peridot. I trust your… questioning went smoothly."

Peridot could tell she just barely restrained herself from saying "interrogation". But it didn't faze her. She responded, "Of course, My Diamond." and saluted. This time she did it right, as she had practiced the gesture while escorting herself back to Yellow Diamond's room in the corridor. Yellow Diamond finally turned to face the gem. Seeing her saluting correctly, she gave a half smirk. "I see you took the effort of re-educating yourself in showing respect for your diamond. I appreciate that. At ease."

As Peridot lowered her arms, an immense amount of joy flowed through the core of her being. _A Diamond, telling a Peridot she appreciates her?_ Just being useful to her diamond made her feel happy, so being told by the being in question that she appreciated her, a Peridot among thousands of others just like her was absurd. And that was when Peridot's logical reasoning took hold. _A Diamond, telling a peridot she appreciates her? Something isn't adding up._ But before Peridot had a chance to become lost in her own pondering, Yellow Diamond's expression morphed into a serious, stone-faced one, and she folded her hands in her lap in a businesslike manner. "Now, Peridot," she said, "Your knowledge of the rebels will prove useful to Homeworld. And, as you could guess, these rebels cannot simply be allowed to interfere with our plans. As you told us, they are attempting to sabotage the Cluster and have grown rather attached to you. This is where you may be vital to the elimination of this problem." Yellow paused for a moment, to let the words sink in as well as catch her breath. Then she simply said, "I want to let them stop the Cluster."

Peridot couldn't help but let a small gasp of surprise escape her throat. Regaining her composure, she quickly interjected, "My Diamond, why would you want the rebels to stop the Cluster? Isn't the fact that they are attempting to interfere with its growth the entire reason you want them eliminated?"

Yellow Diamond sighed in exasperation. If the current situation was different, she would have a peridot that spoke to her in this way shattered. But this time she would allow it. "You didn't let me finish explaining your mission." She said. "Peridot, I want you to return to Earth as an undercover agent for me. You say these rebels have grown attached to you- you could feed me more vital information about their strengths, weaknesses, and etcetera. Then, when the time is right, you may serve as the way we eliminate this problem."

Peridot just stood there, dumbstruck. She could hardly process this information as the words she had just heard flew around her mind in jumbled messes. _Agent, information, problem…_

Yellow Diamond continued, snapping Peridot out of her state of confusion. "I understand you are confused. I do not want you to simply sabotage their mission to destroy my Cluster because that will not eliminate the problem- the rebels will still be active. Instead, eliminating them is the best chance we have at stopping further conflicts…" And, although she did not reveal this to the peridot, Yellow Diamond also desired to take this course of action as a sort of vengeance for her fallen sister, Pink Diamond. Getting rid of the rebels would be revenge for taking away her fellow ruler. Leaving this out, she finished her thought, "And I would prefer to do it in a quiet way, as to not alarm the gems of Homeworld and cause a scene sure to be noticed the Earth ones. So, I am assigning you, peridot Facet 2F5L, Cut 5XG, to return to Earth and act as if you were never taken back to Homeworld, and were never assigned this mission. You are to continue to act loyal to them and assist their mission. However, you are to glean as much information as possible and contact me whenever anything of vital importance is discovered using your new communicator log. Though I will not reveal exactly how yet when the time is right I will tell you the final part of your mission that will forever end the Rebellion. Upon your return to Homeworld, you will be titled a hero and go down in history."

Yellow Diamond glanced at the peridot. It looked like she was choking on all of the new information she was taking in. Yellow Diamond gave one final small smile and finished their meeting with, "I can see that you are a bit overwhelmed. But fear not, you will have plenty of time to process this information on your trip back to Earth. You are to report the docking station in sector 5 of the facility. There will be a model X ship waiting with an escort that is prepared to take you back to Earth immediately as to not raise suspicion with your 'colleagues'. File a quick report when you arrive and then contact me as soon as you find some useful information." Yellow Diamond turned back around and continued on with whatever she had been doing. Peridot could only muster a simple, "My Diamond." and then near stumbled out of the room. Her mind in a numb state of near nothingness, she had forgotten to ask a vital question. Luckily, Yellow Diamond thought of it and before Peridot walked out the door, quickly said, "Peridot, wait…" Peridot, still in a confused trance, looked back at her diamond. "When you return to Earth, you are to keep you limb enhancers, but you must not wear them around the rebels. They will obviously know something is wrong if they find you suddenly have a new pair out of nowhere. I trust you can find somewhere to hide them until you find an opportunity where you are alone and can temporarily equip them to contact me." Peridot just nodded and then left the room."

Completely dazed, Peridot made her way to the docking station. There was a circular green ship similar to her old escape pod, but with a slightly more hexagonal shape. Its engine was already running, and an orange-looking gem was waiting by the entrance. She smiled brightly when she saw peridot. "Greetings, Peridot!" she said joyfully, "I am Tiger's Eye, your escort for this mission! Please have a seat, and we'll be on our way!" This sort of behavior was expected from a Tiger's Eye- they were typically very hyper and upbeat. Peridot just waved her off, saying, "Yeah, cool." and walked up the ramp into the small vessel. Like most Homeworld ships, it was bigger on the inside. There was a long pilot's seat resembling a couch up front with a large holographic control panel and pilot's window. The rest of the ship was solid metal, with a small chair wedged into the back wall for the passenger. Although bigger on the inside, it was still rather small, with only a few feet in between the cockpit and the passenger seat. Peridot sat in the back as Tiger's Eye took her seat in the pilot's seat and took off, leaving the station and emerging into space. _Man, this one's really out of it…_ she thought.

Now that she had some space to think (and breathe again), Peridot snapped out of her daze and her mind began operating again like a machine that had been turned on. It felt like inside her brain was a waterfall and each individual droplet was a thought going through her mind. She simply decided to sort through each thought and prioritize them. The first thing to cross her mind was the disappointment that she would have to give up her limb enhancers again. She only just got them again, and she would have to go back to being small and clueless. However, she quickly brushed the thought aside, prioritizing it of little importance. It wouldn't be much different from before- she had gotten along without them for months. But she would still miss them…

She threw that train of thought into the back of her mind. The rest of her thoughts came in a rush- all of them being the small pieces of info Yellow Diamond had given her, all coming together to form the big picture. The big, muddled, near-indecipherable picture. Peridot attempted to pull all the thoughts in and sum it up to make it easier. _I'm going back to Earth to act as a double agent. I'm going to help Yellow Diamond by telling her everything I can find about the Crystal Gems to help her get rid of them._ Then came the emotions- Yellow Diamond had said she would be a hero. Gems would remember her forever. But at the same time, she was betraying the only people she had ever known who cared about her. Of course, Yellow Diamond cared about her, but not in the same way. Yellow Diamond cared about her to use as a tool- the Crystal Gems cared about… _her._ Peridot. They didn't care if she was useful or not, they just liked her for her. Peridot buried her face in the hands (or floating fingers, rather).Could she really do this to them? But this was for her Diamond… But would it be better to just…

"We'll be landing shortly…" Tiger's Eye interrupted Peridot's thinking session. Peridot looked up and said, "It was that quick?"

Tiger's Eye looked at her in confusion. "It's been nearly seven hours… It wasn't that quick, silly!" Her expression turned cheerful again as she turned back to the control panel, still talking, "I'll drop you off a bit of a distance away from your initial location to not raise suspicion. You might want to take your enhancers off before we get there..."

Peridot sighed. As Yellow Diamond had instructed, she opened her screen one final time and filled out a report saying she had made it to Earth. After sending it out to the database, she closed the screen. Then Peridot began the painstaking process of removing her limb enhancers. She placed one hovering finger to the side of the opposite arm on the enhancer, and it recognized her "fingerprint". The arm lit up in a light green hue, and now Peridot slid it off like butter. It clanged to the ground, and she repeated the process with her other arm and two leg attachments. Not only was it physically a painstaking process, but it also hurt emotionally. Peridots were very attached to their limb enhancers, to an extent where they were almost a part of them. It had been hard enough the first time for Peridot, and now it felt as if it were happening all over again.

"Oh my stars, you look so cuuute!" Tiger's eye squealed, smiling ear to ear. Embarrassed, Peridot blushed and then hissed and turned to face the wall. Tiger's Eye just giggled.

A few minutes later (or what felt like a few minutes), the ship stopped moving and was put into hover mode. "Well, this is your stop. Good luck!" Tiger's Eye said. The ship's door opened, and Peridot scooped up her limb enhancers and walked out into the empty field. In the distance, she could see the back of the barn- a red speck on the horizon. The door resealed behind her and Peridot watched as it spiraled back up into the sky. Taking a deep breath, Peridot began walking back towards the barn. Her new mission had begun.


	5. Chapter 5: Reunited

**Hey, guys. Surprise, early release! I had some more time today so I squeezed out a new chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not shipStevidot or Amedot. I try not to get involved in that messy part of the fandom, so I stay neutral (Meaning I shipPeriground XD). I just thought that's how a reunion would go- Steven is very affectionate and caring towards Peridot and trusts her. Amethyst and Peridot get along better than Pearl or Garnet as well. So don't give me hate comments because I sided with certain ships, please, because I didn't.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

As Peridot neared the barn, she was nothing more than a bundle of nerves with a brain in a civil war. She told herself that for the moment, she was going to forget about her mission. She would just enjoy being reunited with Steven- he had probably noticed she was gone by now. She could just spend time with the Gems again, and let things go back to the way they were. But she couldn't stop thinking about it. Peridot shook her head to clear it: _No. You can worry about that later. Just be happy with Steven and you can file the report later tonight or tomorrow. Now all I need is a cover-up…_

Now Peridot had assumed there was no doubt the Gems had noticed her absence- and they would want to know where she had been. She brainstormed these ideas, until she dropped one of her limb enhancer's stub fingers, for what seemed like the tenth time. She picked it up and continued. It should be easy to hide them- just walk in through the barn's back door and throw them in a pile of junk. It was as simple as that. Then she could find her tape recorder and sit outside while waiting for the gems to come to the barn and find her safe and sound. She no longer needed her tape recorder, but nonetheless, she had grown rather fond of it.

Just as Peridot came to the back of the barn, she took a deep breath, and opened the back door, stepping inside the barn. The front part was open, giving Peridot a clear view of the unfinished drill, and Steven with the Crystal Gems standing next to it.

Peridot's heart caught in her throat. Why were they already here? Did they really not care to search for her? _Whatever, I just need to get my enhancers hidden without them noticing me!_ Peridot sidestepped into the opposite corner of the barn, so the Gem's view of her was obstructed by the front wall. Now panicking, she dumped her limb enhancers onto the ground, and then covered them with hay. _That isn't enough! Someone is going to notice a huge lump of hay!_ Peridot thought, her mind racing. Her eyes drifted to the boxes a few steps away. Thinking fast, she grabbed one and emptied its contents and ran back into the corner. She then put her limb enhancers inside the box, and dragged multiple boxes into the corner, covering the box with her enhancers by piling others over it. Satisfied with her work, she stood still to see if the voices of the Gems had ceased, indicating they had noticed the noise. It had not, so Peridot exhaled in relief. She sneaked out the back door again and closed it behind her. _Now for the moment of truth._

Peridot walked around the side of the barn and pressed her back against the wall for a moment. Gathering her courage and wit, she stepped out into the open…

* * *

Pearl gasped. Amethyst had just gotten her from the communication hub, looking very frantic and saying Steven said to bring her back immediately. When she had returned to the barn, Garnet had already been back, and next to her was Steven, clutching what looked like Peridot's tape recorder. Having run over to the little boy, Pearl had asked what was wrong.

Steven looked at Pearl. His face was contorted in worry, and it was evident that he had shed some tears, albeit a mere few. He said to Pearl, "Something's wrong. I found Peridot's recorder in the field and…" Steven played back the last log to Pearl. Steven's point was made obvious by the abrupt end of the log with a startled yelp from Peridot. Garnet then asked, "Steven, what do you think we should do?" Taking a breath, Steven said, "We keep looking. Peridot must be out there somewhere. I think we should try searching…"

"Steven!"

A loud cry from a high-pitched, childlike voice emitted through the tense air. Steven would know that voice anywhere. Whipping around, he found Peridot running out from behind the barn, a look of great joy on her face. It didn't take long for Steven's expression to mirror hers.

"PERIDOOOT!"

Filled with joy, Steven began to run at the gem. Peridot met him halfway, eager to see her friend again. While Peridot just stopped and smiled, Steven took it a step farther. He tackled her in a huge hug. They both toppled to the ground, and the wind was briefly knocked out of Peridot. He squeezed the fragile gem so tightly she thought he might poof her. He was laughing loudly and joyfully, and the tears came freely. It was just a small trickle of them, but they were proof of his immense joy at seeing his friend alive and well. Peridot, shocked by the initial impact and surprise of Steven's great show of emotion, recovered quickly and laughed along with him. He kept saying, "You're okay, you're okay!" over and over in a hysterical manner. Still laughing and smiling brightly, Peridot jokingly scolded Steven. "Yes, I'm fine, you clod! Now stop squeezing me before you poof me!" And she shoved him off her and sat up. Steven's laughter died down and his tears slowly stopped. When Peridot looked up, she gave a half smile in her quirky sort of way. She realized that tears were forming in the corners of her eyes too. She quickly tried to wipe them away, but Steven was not one to miss such a detail. He giggled and added, "Aww, Peri missed us too!" Peridot blushed and looked away. She was just happy to see Steven again.

Meanwhile, the Crystal Gems had been watching this whole time. They were all smiling brightly as well, observing the adorable reunion. Once Steven had had his fill, Amethyst walked up and put up her hand for Peridot, and they high-fived. "Welcome back, dude. You actually remembered what a high five is!" Amethyst said cheerfully. Amethyst had the strongest bond with Peridot out of the Gems, besides Steven of course, as Pearl and Garnet's personalities didn't click with Peridot's as well. Nonetheless, Garnet followed, gave her trademark thumbs up, and simply said, "Welcome back Peridot."

Pearl, however, wasn't so certain. She, of course, gave a smile, and said, "Glad you're safe Peridot." But then her expression changed. "But I am curious to know where on Earth you were. You had Steven worried sick! We've been searching for you all morning, you know."

Peridot's initial reaction was a surge of inexplicable happiness. They had searched for her! They cared about her and were worried! But this feeling quickly dissipated at the question of where she had been. Her expression fell. Unfortunately, the Gems noticed and Pearl raised her eyebrows quizzically. Peridot, attempting a quick recovery, smiled in a nervous manner and came up with the first thing she could think of.

"Oh! Um… I just took a walk in the field, but I went a little too far out. It got dark and I didn't want to get lost. So I just kind of… stayed in the field and found my way home once the sun rose again!" Peridot grinned, trying to cover up her initial hesitation.

Before Pearl could say anything, Amethyst shouted to Steven, "See! I told ya she got lost!" then proceeded to playfully punch his shoulder. Pearl was unsatisfied, but turned and walked over to the drill without another word. Garnet followed. Steven, with a bit more serious expression, turned and remembered Peridot's tape recorder. He leaned over and picked it up, turning back to Peridot and holding out. "Peridot, I found this out in the field." Peridot slowly took her recorder back. "Wow, thanks."

Steven decided to press Peridot a little. Something wasn't adding up. "Peridot, is everything okay? It's so unlike you to leave this out of your sight…" Steven wanted to ask her about the log, but Amethyst beat him to it.

"And we listened to your last log, looking for a clue as to where you went… and it sounded like something happened to you."

Peridot's heart jumped into her throat. _Were they suspicious?_ She remembered that she had been logging when the rubies had kidnapped her. They had probably heard her yelp when the ruby grabbed her. So she tried her best to cover it up by sounding like her arrogant, annoyed self, but it came off a little weak. "Yes, yes, everything's fine! And why would you listen to my private logs?! It says "keep out"! Can't you read?" And with that Peridot stood and tried to arrogantly walk back to the barn. She didn't bother to look back at Steven's slightly hurt expression. To tell the truth, although it was hidden, her expression was a bit sad too. She had lied and hurt Steven. She passed Pearl and Garnet. Pearl said, "Peridot, we'll start on the drill again tomorrow, but for now…" But Peridot just walked past her and into the barn, not even acknowledging the fact that Pearl had spoken to her. Garnet and Pearl exchanged confused expressions but decided to drop it and continue on with their business.

Meanwhile, Steven and Amethyst still sat in the spot Peridot had just vacated. Amethyst noticed Steven's confusion and hurt, so she said, "Hey, little dude, Peridot was just being Peridot. And cut her some slack, she was probably scared too. Getting lost out there is hard for her since she doesn't know her way around." Steven looked at her, and said with a stone-faced expression, "No, Amethyst, that's not it. Peridot's acting… different. She was getting better before yesterday evening, but now it seems like we're back at square one. And her story isn't adding up. If she had just gotten lost, why was her log like that? Why was she acting so weird? Something seems just… wrong." Steven got up and went to join Pearl and Garnet, leaving Amethyst wondering the same things. _What happened to Peridot?_


	6. Chapter 6: Not a Robot

**Hey guys, welcome back to Crystal's End. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter- I got so emotionally into it I actually started crying a little. So I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter!**

 **P.S: In the inspirational speech Steven gives Peridot, I took a lot of ideas for it out of the song I Am Not A Robot by Marina and the Diamonds. I saw a Peridot tribute with the song playing in the background and thought it fit Peridot perfectly, so I incorporated some of it in the speech. I was paraphrasing, but I guess credit goes to Marina and the Diamonds under Copyright section blah blah blah...**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

The next day, Peridot had hoped that everything would blow over and life would go on like it never happened. But not everything was as it had been. Pearl and Peridot continued working on the drill, but there was a new tension formed between them, like all the warming up to each other that had occurred was swept away with one odd experience. Same applied to Garnet, and Amethyst seemed to act more cautious around her. Peridot didn't mind the Gems' sudden change of heart towards her as much. She was never really close to Pearl since she hadn't really tried too much after their giant robot fight. Peridot was still kind of bitter about being punched in the jaw. Garnet had always eluded her, as she didn't really understand fusion or Garnet's existence. Amethyst was a bit closer to Peridot but it wasn't like they were the best of friends. That position belonged to Steven. But nonetheless, it stung a little. Peridot had come to like all of the Crystal Gems to some extent, and now it felt like there was an invisible barrier between them.

Peridot was fiddling with some wires inside the drill, Pearl was placing in some screws, and Garnet was carrying sheets of metal to the work site. Amethyst was nowhere to be seen- probably sleeping under a pile of garbage. Steven had been observing the interactions between Peridot and the Gems from a distance all morning. Generally speaking, things seemed to revert back to how they were when Peridot had first joined their mission to stop the Cluster. Pearl and Peridot only spoke to each other to say something related to the drill, like "Peridot, hand me that screwdriver." Or "Pearl, we need to alter this part of the blueprint." Garnet and Peridot were talking to each other, but Peridot spoke to her in a way that it appeared the fusion was beneath her. Peridot began acting very irritable, arrogant, and self-centered again. Steven had thought that she had gotten over her snootiness, but now it was apparent that she hadn't.

Peridot was wearing a sort of shell today. On the outside, she tried to look her part and act according to the personality the Gems had assumed was normal for her. And usually, she didn't let her emotions get too out of hand. But ever since she was assigned this mission, it felt as if the dam had burst in her mind and every possible feeling coursed through her being. Although she acted like her stuck up self, she was hurting inside. For some inexplicable reason, it stung that the Gems no longer trusted her and the bond that had been starting to grow between them seemed to have been shattered. Half of her didn't mind, but the other half was tearing itself apart over it. She recalled that not more than a couple months ago, she wouldn't have cared in the least about how any of the Gems felt about her. Actually, a few months ago, she had been so cold and emotionless it was like it had been a completely different person that had come to Earth. She remembered how when one of her robonoids had been cracked and came to her for help, she had carelessly crushed the little thing under her foot. Thinking about how horrible she had treated it made her feel bad. Then, she had tried to crush Steven and then attempted to kill the Crystal Gems and imprison them on the ship. Would she have acted differently, had she known everything about emotions that she did now?

Suddenly Garnet shouted, "Okay everyone! That's enough for today." which interrupted Peridot's contemplation of her moral decisions. She dropped the hammer she was holding and walked into the barn without another word. She then proceeded to make her way to the roof of the barn, and sat down in the sunset evening, the cool breeze circulating around her. She just needed some time alone.

Steven watched Peridot ascend to the roof, and then gave himself some time to think. What could have happened when Peridot disappeared? First, he assumed her story was true- she had gotten lost when she walked out into the field too far. Had she gotten scared? Steven thought that if he had been in Peridot's situation, he would have felt homesick…

 _Oh._

Peridot must have thought about Homeworld- her home. She must've gotten upset with the Gems because of it. After all, they were the ones that had stripped her of everything and forced her to stay on Earth, not being able to go home. Steven glanced up at the barn's roof again. Peridot was still sitting up there, hugging her knees to her chest wearing a vacant expression. Making up his mind, Steven went inside the barn and climbed up to the roof after her.

She didn't even acknowledge as Steven reached the roof, walked over to her, and slid into a sitting position beside her. He then cleared his throat- still no response from the gem. He figured she was trying to keep up her arrogant persona. She was trying to act tough to try to be at the top. So he decided to try to break it, and talk to the real Peridot- the one he had come to know.

"Peridot, can I talk to you?" Steven said in a gentle voice. Peridot looked at him with a stone-faced expression, responding with a hard, stiff sounding "About what?" Steven took a sledgehammer to Peridot's emotions by shouting, "Listen, I know you miss Homeworld, so stop trying to hide it!"

It had the intended effect. The sledgehammer came down hard on Peridot's protective wall she had formed with her stuck up personality, and it crumbled, leaving behind the small, baby gem Steven knew. Her expression softened and her eyes began shimmering a little. If it was from tears, Steven couldn't tell. He continued on.

"I get it, you know. You miss your home. I'd think you're crazy if you didn't- home is an important thing to everyone. You feel vulnerable and small without your limb enhancers. And I know Homeworld taught you that you'll only be liked if you're someone you're not- a cold, bitter meanie who doesn't care about anyone. They told you that you needed to hide your weaknesses and stay at the top by concealing who you are underneath the person you're pretending you are. But the truth is that it's better to be hated than loved for someone you're not. That's the thing about Earth; here, you can be yourself, your own gem. Not what Homeworld wants you to be, not what we want you to be, just yourself.

"You're not a robot- you can't always be without flaws or emotions. And we don't like you because you're flawless or seemingly invincible, we like the real you. You're lovable the way you are- we all love you, Peridot. I know sometimes it may seem like the Gems don't, but we all care about you. But you're trapping yourself behind the false, arrogant, self-absorbed version of you, and you don't have to anymore. During the past few weeks, you were opening up and finally showing us the real you. But now, you're back at the start. I don't know what happened when you went missing, but I know it has to do with it. Just… stop letting the way Homeworld wants you to act control you. This isn't Homeworld, it's Earth. So please, Peridot, be yourself around us."

Peridot just sat there, staring at Steven with her jaw gaping just a little. Sometimes, Steven did truly sound like his mother. Peridot didn't know what to say or do. She was loved, and for the first real time, she realized she didn't have to be what Homeworld wanted on Earth. For that moment she completely forgot her mission and that she was supposed to be an enemy of the Crystal Gems- and lunged at Steven, grabbing him around the hips in a hug. In a soft-spoken, quiet tone, she said in a voice just above a whisper, "Thank you." Steven raised his arms in surprise at first, as Peridot had never voluntarily hugged anyone or displayed this much emotion. However, almost immediately after, he smiled and returned the embrace, saying, "See? That's the Peridot I'm talking about."

A couple minutes later, Steven got down from the barn roof, leaving Peridot to her own devices. She remained on the roof for quite some time, just playing what Steven had said to her over and over in her head like a broken record. Eventually, she gathered herself and reached for her tape recorder, which she had initially brought up with her. She knew she didn't need it anymore, but now she realized it was a sign of her Earthen side, the real her. She could never talk about her feelings or weaknesses on her real log. Yellow Diamond couldn't know about it or she'd realize that Peridot had defected. So she decided that is what she would use her tape recorder for. She turned it on and began. "Log Date… I lost track. And…" She stopped. There was so much going through her head, and so much she couldn't put into words. So she simply ended the log after saying,

"And I don't know what to do."


	7. Chapter 7: Newfound Information

**Hey guys, welcome back to Crystal's End. I really don't have much to say in this intro, since this chapter doesn't have any content that people could perceive as implied ships or paraphrased content from a song... so I guess the only thing to say is that this one's a bit longer than usual. So enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

It was later that night. The moon was at its highest point, shining upon the Earth and toning the sky a silver hue. Peridot was up in the hayloft, lying uncomfortably on a large pile of junk. Steven was just below her, sleeping in his caterpillar sleeping bag in the back of the broken down pickup truck. At this time of night, Steven was always asleep, as he had explained to Peridot that humans needed it to restore energy for the next day. The Gems would go back to the temple or on missions, leaving Peridot alone and bored. At the moment, she was staring at the ceiling with nothing to do for the next few hours until Steven woke up. This, unfortunately, left her plenty of time to think about her mission. She tried her best to sidetrack her mind, but it was nearly impossible. She remembered what Steven had told her earlier: _You miss your home. You feel small and vulnerable without your limb enhancers._ She couldn't help but laugh in a sad way at this. If only he knew…

Peridot exited her state of pondering at the sound of Pearl's voice. She sat up, confused. _Are the Gems still here? Don't they usually go back to the temple?_ She heard Pearl talking to someone, most likely Garnet. Initially, she ignored it and lay back down, trying to pick up whatever words she could from the conversation. "Drill…Materials…Tools…Peridot…"

At hearing her name, Peridot immediately sat up again. She was now curious to hear what Pearl was saying about her. So, as quietly as possible (which wasn't very quiet since she had to crawl over mounds of junk), Peridot crawled over to the edge of the hayloft near the barn door. She leaned down to see if she could see Pearl and Garnet. Sure enough, they were sitting right by the door. Pearl was cross-legged, opposite of Garnet, who was leaning against the chalkboard. Amethyst was with them, lying down next to Garnet. Peridot could now easily make out what they were saying.

"Garnet, are you sure we can trust her? I don't think…" Pearl started. She was interrupted by Amethyst. "Yeah, she's been acting really _weird_ lately. There was the tape recorder thing, and as soon as she went missing she started acting all high and mighty again! She's been really nasty at times, like when we were in the Kindergarten and she was laughing about me being defective. It made me so mad…"

Pearl piggybacked on Amethyst's point. "Yes, she's very obnoxious at times. And she's not exactly a Crystal Gem, what if she turns back to Homeworld…?" Pearl sighed. "Sometimes, I wish Rose were here to tell us what to do. Without her, sometimes I feel like I can't do anything right…"

Peridot drew back sharply and put a hand over her mouth in shock. Half of her was terrified that the Gems would find out about her mission- they were already suspicious of her. The other half of her was hurt. The Gems didn't trust her and even viewed her as annoying and a nuisance. But then Garnet began talking, and Peridot leaned back over the side of the loft to listen.

"Yes, Peridot can be very… bothersome at times. But try to see this from her point of view. She's small, helpless, and far from her Homeworld. She doesn't know much about this planet and only knows how to behave from how Homeworld taught her to. She probably tries to act tough to make up for her weakness. As for trustworthiness, just look at what she's done so far. She's helped us with the drill and revealed information to us that without, could have destroyed Earth. We even allow her to warp around and she hasn't tried anything. I think that if she wanted to leave, she would have by now. Most importantly, Steven trusts her. If he thinks she can change, then so do I."

Pearl gave a small giggle. "Yes, well… she's definitely come a long way from being tied to the fence on a leash!"

Peridot couldn't help but smile a little. Garnet believed in her... and then the guilt came. _Garnet believes in me._ Garnet didn't know that she was going to betray them all and this hurt Peridot more than any insult that could even be thrown at her. But Garnet wasn't done.

"Pearl, Amethyst… In my future vision, I can see something terrible is going to happen. I can't quite tell what- it's like trying to see the bottom of a murky lake. But… I can tell it will be catastrophic."

Pearl and Amethyst exchanged nervous glances. Peridot shrank farther back into the dark shadows inside the barn. Pearl nervously asked, "Do you think… is it about the Cluster?" Garnet only looked at Pearl and said, "I'm not sure. But just the idea of the Cluster terrifies me. I don't understand how Homeworld could do this. When Steven and I were in the Kindergarten and we found out about the Gem Experiments, I… I almost came undone. I don't know if I could handle seeing a thing like the Cluster."

Pearl scooted over to Garnet and comfortingly put her hand on her shoulder. The conversation ended there. Peridot shrank back into the corner of the hayloft, hidden among all of the objects surrounding her. For now, she was off the hook. But the Gems didn't trust her! After everything they'd been through… And they were still mad at her for mistakes that she'd done in the past, which she'd already _apologized_ for…

And then Peridot realized that… they were right. She deserved no better than to be mistrusted.

But then she remembered Garnet had said she could see something catastrophic in her future vision. She was smart enough to realize that the thing she was seeing was Peridot's betrayal of the Gems. No doubt it would be catastrophic for them since Yellow Diamond's main goal was to eliminate them.

Then a thought flashed across Peridot's brain that ended her analyzing. In that one conversation, all of the Gems had revealed something about themselves- their weaknesses. This was exactly the information that Yellow Diamond was looking for! Peridot heard the sound of the warp pad activating, signifying that the Gems had left. She decided that now was as good a time as ever to report to Yellow Diamond.

As quietly as she could possibly manage, Peridot climbed down from the loft and tiptoed over to the corner filled with boxes as to not awaken Steven. Succeeding, she gently removed the boxes from the pile one by one until she was left with the one nearest the bottom. Opening the flaps, she pulled out her limb enhancers. She then exited the barn and walked around to the back. A small thought penetrated Peridot's focused conscience- _Was she really going to do this?_ Peridot shook her head, exterminating the thought. At the moment, she just had to get through this report and forget about her emotions. She was, after all, made to serve Yellow Diamond no matter what her emotions said otherwise. Sighing, she slipped her foot into the first leg enhancement. Slowly, she repeated this process with the second leg, and then her arms. As she slid the arm attachments into place, the limp fingers on the ground suddenly rose into the air and stood to hover a little above her extended arm.

She stood, and it took her a moment to remember how tall she was with her enhancers. Wearing the equipment helped her mind shift into the mood she needed- the seemingly flawless, emotionless robot that Yellow Diamond expected of her. They made her feel less vulnerable, which caused her mind to shift back into its Homeworld mindset in an easier way. Peridot walked farther away from the barn so she would not rouse Steven as she talked. After she had put a reasonable distance between herself and the barn, she opened up a finger screen on her right arm. She immediately noticed a newly installed program linked directly to the Diamond Line. Peridot assumed this was a program unique to her screen so she could contact Yellow Diamond. She opened it up, and the words _Connection Established. Calling…_ became visible on the screen. After a few moments, the words were replaced by a video link of Yellow Diamond's room, and Yellow Diamond herself. Peridot straightened up as Yellow Diamond looked at her with a stern expression.

"Finally you decide to report." She said impatiently. "It's been nearly two days."

Peridot spoke. "My apologies, My Diamond. I had no other opportunities to contact you. However, I have gathered much of the information you seek about the Pearl, the Garnet, and the Amethyst that I believe prove crucial to the success of this mission." The little part of Peridot that was the emotional, Earthen side of her mind- the part of her she was trying to drown out at the moment- was surprised at how odd her voice sounded to her own ears. She sounded so authoritative and intimidating. Yellow Diamond put her hand out to Peridot impatiently. "Speak, then."

Peridot began a long report to Yellow Diamond. "The Gems have all pointed out their weaknesses or fears, or I have been able to collect enough information to assume. The Pearl, for instance, is very emotionally linked to Rose Quartz, the former leader of the rebellion. Perhaps triggering these emotions would throw her off guard. As for the Garnet, she finds fusion to be a very important matter and therefore shows signs of weakness about the Earth gem shard experiments. Exposure to something along those lines might give us an opening." Peridot paused, then remembered Garnet's future vision. She continued, "Since a component of the Garnet is a Sapphire, she possesses the ability to see the future. She can foresee something disastrous happening for the Crystal Gems, and although she is currently unaware of exactly what, it is no doubt the way you plan to eliminate them. Perhaps taking unexpected moves to change the future is the best option. And finally, the Amethyst. She should not be too hard to overpower, considering she is… a defect." Peridot had to force out the last part. "Although, if it proves helpful in any way- when her faultiness is mentioned, she becomes angry and rather rash. Apprehending her in this state should be easy with proper tactics."

Yellow Diamond had been typing notes from Peridot's report onto her screen. When Peridot finished, she looked up. "Peridot, in your questioning you mentioned a creature known as a… Steven. You say that he is a form of hybrid, with some gem genetics. Have you found anything regarding his weaknesses?"

Peridot froze. The emotional side of her took control again for a moment, and she wasn't sure if she could tell Yellow Diamond. But she continued anyway, "I say that the fact that he is half organic says enough. However, he is also not good at controlling his Gem abilities. I do not think he is much of a threat and can easily be eliminated." Saying these horrible things about Steven stung, but Peridot's expression remained solemn above her churning feelings.

Yellow Diamond turned her seat to face Peridot as she closed her screen after punching in the last few notes. "Thank you for your report, Peridot." Peridot smiled at this, pleased that she was useful to her Diamond. Yellow Diamond then continued, "I must say, I'm impressed. You have gotten nearly all of the information that I would think necessary much quicker than I presumed; in only one report, in fact." Yellow Diamond smiled menacingly. "I think I have the perfect way to crush those Gems into dust." Her face then reverted back to its expressionless state, and she finished with, "Peridot, I will process this information and determine the best course of action as soon as possible. Whenever I am able to, I will send a log message to your database that will reveal the next part of your mission. Check your screen as often as possible. That will be all for now." And with that, the screen went blank.

Peridot closed her finger screen. That went better than she expected. All she had to do now was keep checking her screens until Yellow Diamond sent her that message. Her work was done for now.

Peridot walked back over to the back wall of the barn. Now she once again had to go through the painstaking process of removing her enhancers. It was always a rather unpleasant operation, since as the artificial limbs detached from her body, so did her confidence and feeling of powerfulness. She could feel her confident and stuck up personality creeping back into the shadows of her mind and being overtaken with her emotional, vulnerable side again. A minute or so later, she scooped up her limb enhancers and crept back around to the barn door. Peeking in, she looked to clarify if Steven was still asleep, which indeed he was still out cold. She tiptoed past the truck and quietly lowered her arm and leg attachments back into the box. Sliding the box back into the corner, she replaced the additional boxes on top of them. She then crawled back up into the hayloft among the piles of garbage.

Peridot didn't know what to make of her warring brain. She felt like an unstable fusion, to put it best. There were two components of her brain- the intimidating, cold Homeworld side of her mind, and the emotional, more loving side, which were constantly at war and shifting in between the two mindsets. There were so many conflicting thoughts inside her mind once again that she didn't know what to do with, but this time she just shut them all out. She didn't have the strength to deal with them at the moment, so she just completely cordoned herself from them all.

For the rest of the night, she curled up in a fetal position on the pile of rubble, and for what seemed like the millionth time in the past few days, she didn't know what to do.


	8. Chapter 8: A Day at the Beach

**Hey guys, happy early(ish) release of chapter 8! This one is SUPER long- the longest one so far, but it was really fun to write and I hope it's really fun for you to read. And for once, it's actually a good ending to the chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

The next day, things seemed to improve. Of course, things did not magically go back to normal- but Peridot made an effort to, as per Steven's advice, be a little more open and less snobby than usual. To her great surprise, it actually had the intended effect. Pearl was friendlier with her, Garnet actually seemed less far out, and Amethyst started being more social with Peridot again. This came as a slight shock to the little gem- because all her life on Homeworld, she had been taught that the only way she would be treated well is to be feared and respected. But on Earth, it was backwards, just like everything else on the strange planet. Peridot didn't understand how being friendly and equal with others had a better outcome than being feared by them. Maybe she never would understand. However, if there was one thing that peridots hated, it was not understanding something. Peridots were supposed to understand everything- after all, they could just look everything up on their finger screens. So this left Peridot very uncomfortable most of the time.

As Peridot was contemplating this, she was simultaneously fiddling with some of the drill head's inner wires and gizmos, and her train of thought caused her to slightly lose focus. This resulted in her accidentally knocking over one of the mechanisms and getting a face full of spilled oil.

"Ugh! Gross!" She yelled as she fell backward. Lying on the grass, she could hear Steven and Amethyst laughing, and judging by the volume of their voices they had come over to stand over her. She sat up, embarrassed, and wiped enough oil off her visor to make out Steven and Amethyst's smiling faces, giggling at her slip up. Amethyst, through her laughs, said to Peridot, "You should have seen your face!" With that, she shapeshifted into a purple version of Peridot and imitated her falling over with a goofy squeal. This caused Steven to dive into another bout of laughter. Peridot gave Amethyst a cold glare.

Steven produced an old rag from his pocket and handed it to Peridot. She used it to wipe the rest of the oil off her visor and face and then tossed the blackened cloth to the side. Amethyst, finally over her giggling fit and back to her original form, finally said, "Well, anyway- we were coming here to get you before that funny incident happened-" She just barely stifled another snort, "Because Steven and I were going to hang out, and we wanted you to join us! We weren't really going very far, but we were planning to go to the beach just over the hill and-"

Steven interrupted, "And I thought you might like it! Maybe we can teach you a little bit more about Earth!"

Peridot was a little hesitant. She loved being around Steven, and Amethyst's company was mostly enjoyable, but she wasn't sure if she felt ready to spend an entire day with just them. She tried to make an excuse. "Well, I would love to go frolic around with you, but Pearl and Garnet need me to help with the drill! I'm an important aspect to the project and they probably won't be able to manage without me…"

Garnet's voice sounded from a few feet away, where she was bringing some materials over to Pearl. "She can go with you guys. Pearl and I can handle it fine without Peridot for a few hours." Garnet said simply. Peridot cast a glare in her direction that said _Thanks a lot._ And she shouted sarcastically, "Wow! That makes me feel _so_ important!"

Steven giggled a little. Peridot may be more open and friendly now, but it couldn't be denied that a little bit of sarcasm and snarkiness is what made Peridot… well, Peridot. Then he played his final card. He got down on his knees in a begging position right in front of Peridot and gave her a puppy-eyed stare. "Please? Pleeease?" He said, sweet and innocently.

Peridot was confused. What was Steven doing? He was doing something to her; she knew, with his eyes. Something about his gaze compelled her to say, "Okay, fine! I'll go with you." Steven dropped his odd expression and replaced it with an excited smile. "Yes!" He said. "Well, let's go!" and with that, he stood up and he and Amethyst began to walk away, and Peridot hurried to catch up with them, more confused than ever. How did Steven do that? As she caught up with the other two, she began to walk in pace beside Steven. Peridot decided to ask, "Steven, how did you do that?"

Steven gave her an odd look. "Do what?" But Amethyst caught on sooner and butted in. "Oh! You mean Steven's puppy face? It's a thing that younger humans can do to get someone older to do what they want. Some of them can do it better than others, and Steven's a pro!" She said, elbowing him playfully. "He once used it on me to get me to play this dumb Crying Breakfast Friends trading card game with him- It also works on Garnet a lot. It's surprising how effective a look like that can be."

Peridot had no idea what a "Crying Breakfast Friend" or a "trading card" was, and she didn't bother asking. She simply put her hand on her chin thoughtfully, and thought out loud in a quiet voice, "I wonder if I could do that…"

Soon enough, the trio had reached the beach. It wasn't exactly a beach, but it was a small stretch of ocean with a small amount of sand, so it was close enough. Peridot's initial reaction was to study the odd area and analyze it, but she didn't get very far. Her mind's computing process was interrupted by Steven and Amethyst's simultaneous whoops, and with their arms raised above their heads, they ran into the water, laughing and splashing and dunking each other. Peridot sat down right by the water, hugging her knees to her chest. She studied the waves. She knew about the ocean and water, but she found it odd how it moved on its own. The small waves crashed onto the soft sand, creeping up towards Peridot and almost touching her feet, and then retreating back into the large body of blue liquid. The process would repeat over and over again in a never-ending pattern. Peridot found it created a soothing effect, and she became lost in the noise of the waves and the smooth motion they created. _Earth really is a strange planet…_

"Peridot! Stop sitting there and get in here!"

Peridot was snapped out of her trance by the sound of Amethyst's shouts a few feet away in the shallows. She glanced at the water, a little bit nervous. She replied in an anxious tone, "I'm supposed to… fully immerse myself in this liquid?"

Steven came out from under the water next to Amethyst, his hair dripping and sagging with the weight of the water. "Yeah, it's fun! Come on!" Peridot hesitated for a second more, but then gathered up her courage, and stood. Experimentally, she dipped one foot in the water and quickly pulled back. The water seemed to feel okay. Slowly, she put a foot forward again and stepped into the water. It lapped around her ankles and felt… satisfying. The liquid felt thick and cooling- an odd sensation. Anxiety now replaced with curiosity, she stepped deeper into the water, and it gradually rose as she ventured deeper. She was surprised to discover that walking in the water created a resistance that somehow felt enjoyable.

She stopped once she was waist deep, amazed with this newly found idea of water. Glancing up, she saw Amethyst smiling proudly and Steven cheering, "Yeah, you did it!" This made Peridot remember when Steven had explained rain to her for the first time. It had been a similar experience to this one. Now confident and bubbling with pride, she waded even deeper into the water to get to Steven and Amethyst. When she arrived, the water was almost up to her shoulders and her arms were raised on instinct. Smiling, Steven slowly lowered them into the water. Peridot returned a small smile.

Then Steven and Amethyst exchanged glances, and then their expressions turned maniacal as they looked back at Peridot. Amethyst laughed like a mad scientist. "HAHAHA! Now that you've ventured into our turf, you've fallen into our trap!" Peridot's stomach sank. "T-trap…?" She stuttered nervously.

Steven rubbed his hands together in an evil manner. "Indeed, little Peridot. Now you shall face the wrath of… the Water Monsters!" And with that, Steven quickly climbed onto Amethyst as she shapeshifted into a surfboard. The began circling Peridot fast, laughing playfully, as the water from Amethyst's back sprayed Peridot and Steven assisted by throwing more water towards her using his hand. Peridot squealed and threw her arms up in front of her face in an attempt to protect herself from the splashing. Unfortunately, it proved to help very little. She began to laugh along with Steven and Amethyst.

Peridot, now in a fit of laughter, raised her arms and playfully yelled, "You'll pay for this, you clods! Now the terrifying PERIDOT is coming for you!" Peridot attempted to pursue Steven and Amethyst, who had now begun to speed away from her. It proved quite difficult to chase the two with the water causing resistance as Peridot ran, and she flung her arms into the water and pushed to try and force herself forward in what looked like a sloppy swimming stroke. When she got close enough she began slamming one hand on the surface of the water, attempting to splash the two. Steven counterattacked. They were all laughing, and Peridot felt joy at the prospect of having this much fun. Through the loud splashes echoing in her ears, she yelled, "Two versus one? That's no fair!" The surfboard that was Amethyst gave a suspicious grin, and started, "Well, lucky for you, Peridot…" She shapeshifted back into her normal self, causing Steven to fall back into the water, "I am a REBEL! And I'm gonna rebel against the Water Monsters!" Steven's face turned to one of surprise and Amethyst dunked him underwater. As he came back up Amethyst came to Peridot's side and they bombarded Steven with splash after splash. "Ahhh, stop! I surrender, I surrender!" He said through laughter once again.

A few minutes later the three were sitting on the shore, all dripping wet. The sun had just begun to dip below the horizon above the ocean, creating a beautiful scene. Peridot was smiling brightly- she had never had that much fun before. She took a deep breath. "Steven, Amethyst?" She started, turning to look at them. They met her gaze expectantly.

"Thank you- for showing me how fun the 'ocean' can be." Steven smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "See? I told you that you would like it."

Amethyst then blurted out, "Peri, you look so different with wet hair! It's actually a good look for you." Peridot's face flushed. Her hair, weighted with water, no longer resembled its usual triangle shape. Instead, it was almost completely down, with a few strands even falling over the sides of her face. Nervously, she asked, "Is it… going to stay like this forever?"

Steven laughed a little. "No," he said, "It'll dry up and the water will be gone, and it'll go back to normal."

Amethyst, in a more quiet way, asked Steven, "Hey… do you ever think about how Lapis is doing, somewhere out there?"

Before Steven answered, Peridot interrupted. "Lapis? Lapis _Lazuli_? As in, my informant?" Steven nodded. Peridot was shocked. "She's alive? And w-what is she doing in the ocean? What about Jasper?"

Amethyst decided to explain. She briefed Peridot as best she could on the matter of Malachite.

After Amethyst had finished, she glanced at the little green gem. Peridot's jaw had dropped. Quickly regaining her composure, she quickly took a deep inhale and clarified.

"So, just making sure I got this right- Lapis fused with Jasper and is now holding her prisoner at the bottom of the ocean for who-knows-how-long in an unstable fusion."

Steven and Amethyst nodded in a synchronized fashion.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Peridot now terrified at the idea. And then a great idea hit Steven to lighten the mood.

"Hey!" he shouted, making Peridot and Amethyst jumped a little bit, "I just thought of how I can make this day even better!" He stood, and then looked at the two gems on either side of him. "Stand up and come a little closer." The two obliged, and before either could ask why, Steven formed a large, pink bubble around them. Peridot was awestruck. She had only seen Steven summon his bubble one other time, and it was truly amazing.

Amethyst suddenly understood what Steven was planning to do. "Alright, Steven!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Ocean exploration!"

Peridot looked at Amethyst, confused. "Huh?"

Steven briefly explained. "We're going to go under the ocean and take a look around. Since none of us can breathe underwater, we'll do it from the safety of my bubble. So let's start! Peridot, just walk towards the water with us." Peridot was still confused but complied. They started towards the sea, the bubble rolling along with them. As they walked into the water, they stayed dry inside the bubble, and soon they were completely submerged. Confused, Peridot said to Steven, "Uh… It's just sand and more water. What's so great about that?" She also didn't want to admit it, but Peridot was now afraid of the idea of bumping into Malachite while they were in the ocean. Steven laughed and reassured her, "No, we're not there yet! Once we go deeper, it gets really cool!" So they continued, venturing deeper into the ocean on the slope-like, sandy bottom.

A few minutes later, they had arrived. Peridot stood there in amazement, her eyes lighting up like two little stars. She was surrounded by amazing new things- there were many rock-like objects all with vibrant colors, which Steven had said was called "coral". And the area surrounding said coral was teeming with so many ocean creatures that Peridot did not even know the names of. Many of them had fins and gills, lots of them with shimmering silver scales or extravagant colors. The entire scene was a shade of blue from the water surrounding them. Steven giggled at the sight of his friend completely awestruck with the beauty of the underwater world. He explained to Peridot that the animals were called fish and lived underwater by using their gills to breathe. As Peridot took more time observing the fish, she noticed a small, pink creature shaped like a star attached to a piece of coral.

"Steven, what's that thing? It doesn't have gills or eyes or a mouth like the other fish!" Peridot asked. Steven responded after taking a look at the creature in question, "Oh, that's a starfish! They don't need eyes or a mouth, and they can breathe underwater without gills." Suddenly, he gasped. "Oh my gosh, do you wanna hold it, Peridot?"

Peridot shrugged. "Okay, yeah." Concentrating, Steven shot out another pink bubble that encapsulated the starfish, and then pulled it in like a tractor beam. It fell into his hands, squirming slightly. Peridot sat down in the bubble, crossing her legs as Steven plopped the creature into her hands.

Peridot almost dropped the creature at first. It created a sticky feeling on her hands, accompanied by the brittle skin of the creature. It scared her even more when it wiggled slightly. Steven noticed Peridot's discomfort and he reassured her, "Aw, don't be scared. It might feel weird at first, but once you get used to it it's really neat!"

So Peridot gave it a chance. And it turned out that Steven was right. After a few more moments the starfish stopped wiggling and nestled comfortably into Peridot's hands. Her face lit up as she looked at Steven and Amethyst. "Look, guys! It loves me!" Amethyst got on her knees next to Peridot and stroked the starfish with her finger. "Pretty cool, huh?" she said. Peridot just nodded in agreement and pulled the starfish closer to her in what looked like a hug.

Steven hated to ruin Peridot's fun, but he interrupted with, "Sorry, Peridot, but I gotta put the starfish back in the ocean. If we don't it can't breathe, and it'll suffocate." At this, Peridot's expression turned nervous and frantic. Glancing at the starfish in her lap, she quickly grabbed it and thrust it into Steven's hands. "Put it back, put it back! Don't let it die!" Steven and Amethyst laughed a little. As Steven put his hands through to the outside of the bubble and released the starfish, a thought crossed Peridot's mind. _Why do I care if it dies? A few weeks ago I wouldn't have cared._

From there Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot began walking back towards the surface, with Peridot still contemplating her actions. _And I'm scared for Lazuli, too. I'm even worried about Jasper! What is wrong with me?_ She already knew the answer to that, though- Earth had caused her to defect. But, for the first time, she realized that it was a good thing. There was so much beauty on this planet- Peridot finally understood why the Crystal Gems gave up so much to protect Earth. There were truly things on this planet that were worth protecting.

And if there was one thing peridots loved, it was finally understanding something.


	9. Chapter 9: Anger and Revelations

**Hey guys, guess what's back again? Well, Crystal's End, obviously. I've been writing nonstop and got you chapter 9 only 10 hours after chapter 8! You're welcome! It's another long one, and just a warning, it goes from 0 to 100 really quick. I mean, it starts with a cinnamon roll scene which quickly becomes a fire salt one. So brace yourselves and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

During the walk back, Peridot was beaming ear to ear. They were joking, laughing, and Peridot even tried to exchange a few playful punches with Amethyst. She had never had this much fun before- she had never had fun on Homeworld in general. It felt good- to not just be taking orders all the time.

As the trio came over the top of the final hill, they were greeted by the sight of the barn, which was hued a red-orange color in the sunset. Pearl and Garnet were standing by the drill, waving as they approached.

"Welcome back, you three!" Pearl greeted. Garnet looked at Peridot and said, "Nice hair." while giving one of her trademark, expressionless thumbs-up. Embarrassed, Peridot turned away from the fusion. Steven ran back into the barn and emerged with a towel. "I can fix that!" He ran over to Peridot and began rubbing the towel over her hair to dry it. Peridot fell over and tried to claw at the cloth Steven was attacking her with. "Ack! Stop!" she yelled. As Steven removed the towel, Peridot's now-dry hair poofed up, back in its trademark triangular shape. Many strands were sticking out from being tousled by the towel, so she ran her fingers through her hair to fix it. Amethyst took her hand and helped her up, whining. "Awww, you looked cute like that, Peri!"

Peridot clenched her fists. "I'm not cute, you clods!" she hissed. This just made everyone laugh. Deep down, though, Peridot was happy- the Crystal Gems had accepted her again, like a big family.

Pearl changed the subject. "Anyway… Steven, your dad came by a few minutes ago to drop off this." She walked over to a stool near the drill and picked up a box of pizza that had been resting on top of it. Steven and Amethyst pumped their fists in the air. "Alright!" Amethyst yelled.

A few minutes later, all the Gems were sitting in a circle, cross-legged, with the box of pizza in the middle. Pearl watched in slight disgust as Amethyst and Steven wolfed down slice after slice. Garnet took a piece but really only nibbled on it. Peridot just watched in confusion. What were Steven and Amethyst _doing_? Amethyst glanced over at Peridot in the middle of her 5th slice. "Yo, Peri! You wanna try one?" Peridot just gave her an odd look. Steven leaned over and put one arm over Peridot's shoulder, the other arm holding a half-finished slice of pizza. "Yeah, you should try eating! I know gems don't have to do it, but it's really fun! You tried out the ocean and you liked it, maybe you'll like this too!"

Peridot felt uncomfortable at the idea, but she decided to try it to make Steven happy. She shook Steven's arm off her shoulder and leaned forward to take a slice out of the box. She dangled it in front of her face experimentally. She looked at Steven for help. "What do I… do with it?"

Amethyst slid over to Peridot's side. "You stuff it in your mouth!" and thrust the entire rest of the pizza into her mouth. "Then ya chew and swallow!" And Amethyst, very grossly, demonstrated. Peridot uneasily said to the rest of the Gems, "Um, isn't this habit a little bit… uncouth?"

Pearl huffed in disgust and added in, "Well, if you care to be a more civilized gem, you can take small individual bites and gradually get it down." Steven demonstrated for Peridot. She did admit that it was significantly less gross than Amethyst's methods. Peridot gathered up her courage and lifted her own slice of pizza to her mouth. She cautiously bit into it and chewed, with all the Gems crowded around her, looking at her expectantly. Peridot's eyes widened, and she turned to Amethyst and Steven with her mouth still full. "Guys…" Steven and Amethyst exchanged nervous glances. But Peridot produced a huge smile, and with her eyes now sparkling, shouted, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!" Steven and Amethyst's worried expressions fell and were replaced with beaming smiles.

Watching Peridot wolf down the slices had been an interesting event. Pearl had watched with her face frozen in a disgusted expression. Garnet had just given her a thumbs-up, like usual. Steven and Amethyst watched in amazement that such a tiny being could stuff her mouth so full of food, occasionally laughing when Peridot started coughing- it took her awhile to get her throat muscles to become fully accustomed to swallowing.

A few minutes later, the half of the pizza that had been remaining was completely gone. A disappointed Peridot was lying down with a heartbroken look at the prospect of having nothing else to eat. Steven and Amethyst were lying on either side of her, congratulating her on her first time trying food. Pearl and Garnet were sitting on either side of them. Amethyst said to Peridot, "Wow, you ate that faster than I could have! That's something to be proud of!" Peridot smiled and pumped her small, greasy fist in the air. "We need to do that again soon!" Steven then added, "Oh! Tomorrow we were going to have a campfire and roast marshmallows! You can have some then, but don't eat them all!"

Amethyst giggled. "You should try eating the stick, too."

Pearl suddenly butted in. "Oh, no, you shouldn't. It's disgusting enough watching when Amethyst does it." And they were all laughing, having fun together, and Peridot felt so good laughing along with them. But her bright, happy mood was doused like water being poured on a fire when a small, simple thought crossed her mind. _What would Yellow Diamond think of this?_

Peridot immediately stopped laughing and her smile faded. Her Homeworld half briefly took over her again. She knew that Yellow Diamond would hate it, of course. There were no consumable items on Homeworld since eating was frowned upon, much like other human functions. This again caused the idea to resurface that Peridot had a flaw in her code- she wasn't _supposed_ to enjoy it. She was just meant to follow orders and program and fix things without question. She sighed inwardly. She was so sick of having all these conflicting emotions and thoughts.

"Peridot? You okay?" Amethyst's voice brought Peridot back to reality. "You spaced out there for a sec." She sat up and glanced at Amethyst, simply nodding. Peridot stood, and said with a monotonous voice, "I think we should call it a night." and walked into the barn and into the hayloft without another word. Pearl jerked a thumb towards the barn and asked Steven, "What is wrong with her lately? She was just having fun with us a moment ago." Steven sighed.

"She probably just misses her home more than ever. I talked to her a couple nights ago, and she's been trying to open up to you guys a bit more, but I know it's probably hard." Steven yawned. "You guys go on back. I'm going to call it a night anyway."

A little bit later, after Steven had said his goodnights, he watched the warp pad light up and transport the Gems home. He walked into the dark barn, looking around for Peridot. He only just saw her in a dark corner of the hayloft, almost completely hidden in shadow. She was facing the wall, her back to Steven, resting her chin on her knees with her arms wrapped around her legs. She seemed to be wallowing, lost in thought.

"Peridot?" Steven called. The gem raised her head slightly at hearing her name but remained in the same position. Steven continued, "Do you want to… talk about anything?" Peridot shook her head slightly and then rested it back on her knees. It was obvious that she wanted to be alone. "Okay," Steven said, climbing into his sleeping bag in the back of the truck, "Just wake me up if you change your mind. Good night, Peridot." And with that, he pulled himself into the bag and closed his eyes. He heard Peridot say ever so quietly, "Good night, Steven."

At that moment, Peridot had been very upset. Lately, she felt like she was going crazy. Now that she had realized that the Earth had so much beauty and things worth protecting, she thought differently about her Homeworld self. Her instinct told her that she _wanted_ this; that she wanted to stay on Earth and be free to feel and be herself. But the logical part of her, the part that was embedded in her coding, told her that all that mattered was pleasing Yellow Diamond, and what her emotions said didn't matter because they shouldn't be there anyway. Peridot didn't want to be a robot anymore, but she needed to complete this mission…

Peridot ran her fingers through her hair, clawing at it, and barely suppressing a scream of frustration. The two voices in her head, each led by one of the two sides of her, now wouldn't leave her alone. She wanted so badly for all of this to never have happened- she wished she had never gone to Earth, wished that Steven had never caused the ship to crash, wished that she hadn't gotten stranded on Earth, wished that she hadn't kidnapped Steven and led the Crystal Gems right to her, wished that Steven hadn't popped her bubble, wished that she hadn't agreed to help the Crystal Gems. If none of this had ever happened, she would have continued serving Homeworld indifferently; never knowing that there was another way. If she didn't know, she wouldn't have felt like she did now. Or maybe Steven should have left her in that bubble. If she were within the circular confinements of the bubble in a suspended consciousness, she never would have gotten herself into the whole mess with Steven and the Gems and wouldn't have known about anything.

But then, wasn't it a good thing that she had learned about Earth and spent time with the Gems? The fact that she knew true emotion should be a good thing- she found it enjoyable at times. But now it was harder for her to fulfill her purpose of serving the Authority…

"SHUT UP!" Peridot screamed at herself and the little warring voices in her head. She just couldn't hold it in anymore. This, consequently, caused Steven to jolt awake suddenly. Initially confused, he looked over at his friend, sitting in a stressed position in the hayloft. He then realized that something was seriously wrong.

"Peridot, are you okay?" Steven called. Unbeknownst to him, this made the situation worse. Peridot gritted her teeth. _Great. Now I woke him up._ She hopped down from the hayloft, her arms crossed. "No, I'm not." She said coldly. Steven climbed out of his sleeping bag and started toward Peridot. "Look, I know that something's bothering you. If you would just tell me about it…" He reached his hand out to grab her shoulder comfortingly. Peridot swatted his hand away angrily. Steven pulled back, surprised.

Peridot couldn't take it anymore. Steven just thought she could _talk_ about it, and everything would be fine? She took all of the boiling anger that had built up inside her over the past few days, weeks, and even months, and poured it all out. "No! I don't want to talk about it!" She whipped around to face Steven. "All of this is YOUR fault! You and the other stupid clods are the reason that I can never feel the same way about home! You had to keep breaking my stuff, and even when I was lost, afraid, and stranded on this stupid rock, you still were chasing me! I wasn't even after you anymore! And then you smashed me into a limbless cloud and trapped me in your bubble dungeon! You took everything from me! My limb enhancers, my dignity, and my hopes of returning home! And it's _your_ fault that I had to team up with you stupid gems! YOU let me out of that bubble, YOU kept me imprisoned in your bathroom, and YOU made me tell the others about the Cluster! Now I'm defective and I feel things I was never supposed to feel or know about, and it's even harder to think about home!" Steven stared at Peridot, shocked. She had had temper tantrums in the past, but she had never been angry to this extent. He opened his mouth to give a weak response, but before he could Peridot yelled at the top of her lungs, "I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!" She glared at Steven. She didn't even care about the tears that were forming in the corners of his eyes. Whatever he had been about to say had been lost in the blast of hurt that had hit the young boy. Peridot clenched her fists, letting out one last wave of frustration and fury. "I never asked for this! I never asked to come to Earth! I never asked to serve Yellow Diamond! I… I NEVER ASKED TO BE MADE!"

If Steven had been stunned before, her last blow hit him like a shockwave. What hurt the most was the fact that Peridot was right… She was miserable because of them. He stood there, looking at his friend with a mix of hurt, sympathy, and shock. Peridot turned away and stormed out of the barn into the open night. She ran to the back of the barn and slumped down in the grass. Overcome with anger and grief, she put her face in her hands. It took every ounce of strength in her to keep from crying. She couldn't even tell what she wanted anymore- to go home or to stay. As the waves of blinding fury slowly diminished, Peridot came to and realized that she had just yelled at Steven, the only person who ever really cared about her. "Oh my stars, what have I done…?"

She just sat there for many minutes, but it seemed like decades to her. Throughout her life, she had seen so many things happen- she had seen millions of organisms and fellow gems die and suffer, and she had witnessed many catastrophic events firsthand, but all of that combined couldn't come close to the pain she was going through now. She tried to shut everything out and just pretend like nothing had happened, but it was impossible. She just wished that someone would shatter her, just make everything end…

And then Peridot remembered that she was expecting a message from Yellow Diamond. For a moment, she just sat there, unsure of what to do. Then her anger overtook her again, and she acted according to that. She stood and walked back to the front of the barn and peeked in. Steven was asleep again so she walked in to go to the corner that was filled with boxes. She passed by Steven on the way and spared a quick glance at him. His sleeping face looked uneasy, and there were tear stains evident on his cheeks. Peridot's angry persona fell for a second, replaced with guilt, but the flames of anger quickly enveloped and burned the brief feeling. She passed him indifferently and repeated the process of retrieving her limb enhancers from the box and going outside the barn that she had gone through the night before. She once again slipped them on and stood. But this time, equipping her limb enhancers felt different. Instead of feeling great and powerful like usual, Peridot felt like a monster; a cruel, careless monster that hurt others and didn't ever give them a second thought. Almost on instinct, Peridot immediately removed one arm attachment and both leg enhancements, leaving only her right arm, which is all she needed to check for a message. This time when she removed her limb enhancers, it didn't feel bad like it was supposed to. Instead, it made her feel better. _Great!_ She thought angrily, _Now even my limb enhancers feel terrible!_ She felt odd with her body out of proportion.

With her last remaining arm, she opened a finger screen and sifted through the data. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a blinking notification, evidence of a message. _Wow, that was fast._ Peridot thought. She opened the message and read it through. By the end of it, it completely penetrated Peridot's angry outer shield and stabbed the small, vulnerable Peridot that had been hiding behind it. She fell backward, and read the message again to make sure she had understood it right. Unfortunately, she had. Peridot lay there, speechless and shocked. The message read:

 _Greetings, Peridot. Congratulations on almost completing your mission so quickly. It is now that I reveal the final part of your mission to you: You know all of the Crystal Gem's weaknesses. Use it against them if necessary to fulfill the final task._

 _Eliminate Steven, the last remaining piece of Rose Quartz, leader of the Rebellion._


	10. Chapter 10: The Message

**Hey guys, here's another chapter for you, and super fast! (They're all coming outta the woodwork, as Amethyst would put it.) Sorry for making it short this time around, but I feel like content-wise it's suitable enough. And I also apologize for the plot holes in Peridot's emotions, but I feel like switching in between the two parts of her, her decisions would get a little muddled, so sorry if it gets confusing. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Peridot remained on the ground, staring at the message with horror. _Kill Steven? I'm supposed to kill Steven?_ She didn't know what to think or do. Her mind remained in a numb state, filled with terror. She thought aloud, in a weak whisper.

"Kill Steven? How am I supposed to do that? Am I really that much of a monster? Am I willing to do this? It's for Yellow Diamond… I should be willing, but… I'm not."

It didn't take long for Peridot to make up her mind. She couldn't do this. Peridot let her emotions guide her, and they lead her to this decision. She might be made to serve Yellow Diamond, but Peridot was not going to kill the one person who ever really cared about her. In some inexplicable way, Peridot cared about Steven too… and this feeling was more powerful than her will to please Yellow Diamond.

"But what do I do? If I don't do this, who knows what Yellow Diamond will do…"

This was her mission, and if she failed it or disobeyed an order, she could be shattered. Peridot curled up in a fetal position on the grass, moaning softly. _What am I supposed to do?_

All of a sudden, an idea came to Peridot's mind that could be the solution. It was probably suicide… but it was her only shot. She inhaled deeply and mustered as much courage as she could (which was very little at the moment), and opened her finger screen again. But just as she did, she began to realize all the flaws in her plan. If this worked, she would still assist in the elimination of the Crystal Gems. Sighing, she attempted to once again drown out her emotions and just focus on herself, her mission, and Yellow Diamond. Though she might still aid in the destruction of the Crystal Gems, this might make it easier. Peridot pulled up the video communication program and waited from Yellow Diamond to link the call. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" she muttered.

A few moments later, Yellow Diamond picked up the call. She glanced at Peridot and then spoke. "Hello, Peridot. I trust that you received my message?" Peridot inhaled and poured all her focus onto her screen and the video communication. "Indeed, My Diamond." Peridot attempted to salute, but it came out wrong since one of her arms lacked an attachment. Yellow Diamond noticed this and raised her eyebrows, but dropped it and continued. "So why is it that you are contacting me? Was my instruction not clear?" Peridot summoned all her courage and said, "No, My diamond, your instructions were perfectly clear. However, I… can't do it." Peridot trailed off slightly at the end. She might have just sealed her doom.

Yellow Diamond's eyes narrowed. "Why?" she asked in a dark tone. Peridot desperately scavenged her panicking mind for a reason. She found one, and although it was weak, she gave it a shot.

"My Diamond, you have instructed me to… terminate the Steven." Peridot inwardly flinched at saying this. "However, it has come to my attention that it would prove very difficult to get him alone to complete the job. The others are nearly always with him and I cannot take on all four at once." Peridot knew that it would be perfectly easy to get Steven alone since the Gems left the two alone every night, but since Yellow Diamond was unaware of this she used it to her advantage. _I just lied to my Diamond…_

Yellow Diamond actually paused, as if considering this a valid point. Peridot used this to build her point even further. "And, if I may ask, My Diamond, how will eliminating only the Steven result in the end of the Rebellion? Shouldn't we terminate all of the gems?"

Yellow Diamond sighed. In an exasperated tone, she replied, "I would not expect a mere peridot to understand, but I will attempt to explain. If the Steven, who possesses the Gem of Rose Quartz- their leader- is gone, they will be lost without the guidance of their former leader. In their grief, it will give the Cluster the last window of time to emerge, and destroy them along with the Earth. There is no need to make you go through the additional trouble of attempting to terminate all four."

Peridot's mind was hard at work, trying to use this information to validate her idea. Thankfully, this new piece of information gave her exactly what she needed. Peridot began to explain her idea.

"My, Diamond, I believe I have a plan that would prove much more effective. If you were to come to Earth yourself, you could bring specific soldiers that would bring forth each of the Gem's weaknesses. This would make it easy to apprehend them and make them watch as the Steven is terminated. Then, you can take the rest back to Homeworld and receive the pleasure of dealing with them yourself. I understand you sent me as to not make a spectacle, but if you only brought a handful of soldiers, I presume it would not arouse such suspicion." Peridot felt like she had just poured acid on herself. She was aiding in the demise of her friends… and making it worse for them, but easier for her. _I really am a monster._

Yellow Diamond paused for a moment, considering this. To some extent, the peridot was right. It would prove difficult for her to get rid of the Steven on her own. And, if Yellow Diamond came, it would be easier to apprehend them, and she would get the satisfaction of destroying them herself to avenge Pink Diamond. So Yellow Diamond obliged.

"Very well, Peridot. I shall come to Earth and assist you in this mission. Expect my arrival in approximately 2 or 3 Earthen days. Until then."

The call ended. Peridot stood there in shock. So many thoughts swirled around in her head. _That actually worked? I can't believe I just did that…_

Peridot walked back into the barn and hid her limb enhancers once again, then crawled back into a pile of junk in the hayloft. _Just three more days…_ She told herself. _Just three more days and this will all be over. You can go back home and never think about this again._ Just weeks ago, the prospect of going back to Homeworld would have filled Peridot with joy. But now, it made her feel worse than ever. For the rest of the night, she wedged herself deep in between the pieces of junk, in a fetal position once again. _What have I done…?_

* * *

Yellow Diamond tapped a button on her hologram screen to end the call. Had she really just agreed to that? Well, no use dwelling on the past. It was time to prepare.

"Pearl." Yellow Diamond called. Yellow Pearl rushed over to position herself in front of Yellow Diamond and saluted. "Yes, My Diamond?"

Yellow Diamond gave the order. "I'm taking an unexpected trip to Earth. Have someone prepare a small ship- I am only to be accompanied by a handful of soldiers. Summon 5 Era 1 Peridots, a small vein of Amethysts, and…" Blue Diamond was probably going to kill her for this, "Pop a few Rose Quartz bubbles and assign them to me for the time being. Instruct them all to report to my ship for a new mission. That will be all." Yellow Diamond clapped twice. Yellow Pearl was a bit stunned and confused behind the reasoning of these orders, but she did not question them. She quickly hurried from the room, and Yellow Diamond leaned back with a maniacal grin. "For you, Pink."


	11. Chapter 11: A Quick Reconciliation

**Hey, guys. I'm already back with another chapter for you. After re-reading my last chapter, I was pretty disappointed with myself, so sorry for the lacking in the previous chapter. Also, this chapter was supposed to have a second part, but it got too long so I split it into two chapters (I posted chapter twelve at the exact same time as this one). Also, it's really late so I didn't have a chance to proofread this so please excuse any errors. Have fun!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

Steven awoke to the sound of the warp pad activating, like every other morning. Likewise, Peridot heard the sound and sat up, like every other morning. However, unlike every other morning, there was no upbeat "Good Morning, Peridot!" from below her, and she did not get a new energized, happy feeling at the start of a new day.

Steven sighed, and started for the barn door when he heard a thud behind him as Peridot jumped down from the hayloft. He turned to look at the gem, expecting her to say something. However, she kept her head lowered and fists clenched and brushed past Steven, walking through the door without a sound. Disappointed, Steven followed after her to go greet the gems. He was not mad at Peridot about the previous night, but he was afraid to talk to her for fear of causing her anger to mount again.

What he didn't know that Peridot was no longer angry at him in the slightest- she was just too ashamed to talk to him. After the way she treated him last night when all he was doing was trying to help, she felt awful and didn't want to hurt him again. But she was also angry at herself- in just three days, the Gems would meet their demise, and it would be all her fault.

This behavior continued throughout the day as everyone continued working on the drill. Peridot and Steven avoided each other completely, each afraid to talk to the other. Peridot mostly kept to herself, only speaking to ask for a tool or to ask a question related to her work. Amethyst was very bothered by this- the two wouldn't talk to each other and it seemed like Garnet and Pearl's feud all over again. Pearl was concerned for Steven since he seemed very down and suspected something had happened the previous night. Garnet, however, knew exactly what had happened because of her future vision. She decided to go with one possibility and let the two work it out themselves.

At some point in the day, Pearl and Amethyst approached Garnet on it. Amethyst said in an annoyed tone, "Garnet, what's up with those two today? I feel like I need to knock their heads together to get them to stop this." Then Pearl added, "Well, I don't think that would be very effective. But, Garnet, what's wrong? Did something happen while we were away last night?" Garnet didn't want to tell them because she knew Amethyst would get even more annoyed and Pearl would overreact and probably strangle Peridot. So she waved them off by saying, "Don't worry about it, they'll figure it out themselves." which was a half-truth. Pearl and Amethyst sensed that Garnet did not want to tell them, so they dropped it for the moment.

However, the tension hadn't improved in the slightest by late afternoon. The sun was beginning to set, and Steven and Peridot had not uttered a single word to each other all day. Amethyst was getting more and more fidgety and Pearl was growing even more suspicious. Garnet sighed. She didn't want to, but she knew she would have to intervene now. She yelled, "Okay everyone, that's enough for today." Steven was relieved and dropped what he was doing immediately walked off, eager to get away from Peridot. Pearl and Amethyst followed moments after. Peridot continued working, pretending not to hear that Garnet had called it a day. Sighing, Garnet called her. "You too, Peridot."

Peridot looked at Garnet for a moment, and then groaned and dropped what she was doing. Garnet went to sit on the bale of hay that was always right by the barn's door. As she sat down, Garnet looked up. Peridot hadn't moved from the spot. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

But Garnet had other plans. She called her again: "Peridot, come here." and patted the spot on the bale of hay next to her. Peridot hesitated a moment but decided she didn't want to disobey an order from Garnet. She trudged over to the bale and sat beside the fusion, looking away from her. Garnet began from there. "Listen, I know what happened last night."

Peridot froze for a moment, startled. Then she remembered: _Oh, right. Future Vision._ She nervously looked up at Garnet, assuming she was going to be in huge trouble with her. But to her surprise, Garnet continued with, "I know you're scared to talk to Steven, but you shouldn't be. He isn't mad at you- in fact, _he's_ scared of talking to _you._ But I've seen this before and know that this will never be resolved if neither of you says anything, so I wanted you to talk to him first."

Peridot understood Garnet's logic, but she didn't like it. She held her arms and nervously responded. "I-I don't know if I can. I don't want to hurt him any more than I already did. What would I even say?"

Garnet put her hand on Peridot's shoulder comfortingly. "Just apologize. You know Steven- he'll understand. I know you can do it." And with that Garnet stood and walked away, leaving Peridot alone on the bale of hay. For a moment, Peridot pulled her arms and legs closer to herself, unsure of what to do. Then she glanced at Steven, sitting in the field with the others. She realized that this might be one of the last times she'll ever get to see him so happy and carefree, and the only way that she could even start to forgive herself for the damage she would cause him was to enjoy the last few hours with him where he wouldn't hate her or possibly ever see her again. Sighing, she stood and slowly walked over to Steven.

Steven didn't notice Peridot walking up behind him, so she cleared her throat to alert him to her presence. He turned around, followed by Pearl and Amethyst, who sat on either side of him. He, admittedly, was a little bit scared of what Peridot was going to do. Peridot took a deep breath. "Steven…" But couldn't get the words out with both Pearl and Amethyst watching. Her face flushed, and without thinking she grabbed Steven's arm and yanked him up and away from the others, dragging him fast. Pearl initially was going to pursue the two, but then Garnet appeared from behind and put a hand on her shoulder. Her expression told Pearl to drop it, so she sat back down and sighed.

Peridot pulled Steven a reasonable distance away and then released his arm and turned to face him. Steven gave her an expectant look. Peridot put her hands behind her back and began twiddling her thumbs nervously as she tried to avoid Steven's gaze by looking at the ground. She sighed and forced the words out. "Steven, I'm sorry about last night. I was just really angry, and I didn't mean to take it out on you. I'd understand if you didn't forgive me right away-" Peridot stopped as Steven held up his hand. "Peridot…"

Peridot shivered slightly, scared about what he was going to say. "Y-yes?" she stammered. Steven looked at her for a moment, and then unexpectedly pulled her into a hug. Peridot tensed up and froze in place, shocked.

"Oh, Peridot… of course I forgive you. I understand that you have a lot on your mind, and all of us get mad sometimes." He raised his head to look at Peridot and found her wearing a shocked expression, and he gave her a playful smile. "Just never do that in front of Pearl or she'll kill you." He giggled a little. Peridot's body relaxed suddenly as she returned the hug, and laughed along with him. What she failed to notice was that the Gems were watching from a few feet behind the two, smiling brightly at them- and Garnet was smiling the brightest of all.

* * *

The rest of the evening went smoothly. As promised the day prior, the Gems prepared a campfire at which they all sat and had marshmallows. Amethyst was relieved that whatever had happened between Steven and Peridot was over, Pearl was more relaxed now and Garnet was satisfied that her pep talk had led Peridot in the right direction. And as promised, Amethyst brought marshmallows, which she and Steven dug into. Much to their surprise, Peridot remained still, staring absentmindedly at the fire. Amethyst yelled, "Peri, don't you want some of the goods?" which brought Peridot back to reality. She had been thinking about what was to come in three days and how she would never be able to forgive herself. She really was trying to have fun, but she couldn't take her mind off it. At the sound of Amethyst's voice, she straightened up and registered what was happening.

Scratching her head, Peridot said, "Oh, yeah! I'll have a couple." and grabbed a few off the confectionary white puffs. Steven taught her how to put them on the stick and roast them over the fire to cook each side perfectly, and afterward, Peridot ate them. Much like the pizza, they tasted amazing, but Peridot was just grateful that the marshmallows stuck her mouth together and gave her an excuse to not talk. As Amethyst ate her stick, Pearl sighed, disgusted. She then suddenly turned her attention toward Peridot as her face lit up a mischievous grin, and she ate the stick as well. It didn't taste very good and Peridot almost spit it out at the shock of it. She had assumed that all things tasted good. But she kept it in her mouth and swallowed to see pearl screech, "Ew! Peridot, I thought you were better than that!" And everyone started laughing, which temporarily took Peridot's mind off of her nagging conscience.

Later that night, as the Gems departed and the warp stream shot up into the sky, Peridot grew very anxious. She would have to spend the whole night with Steven, as always, and was terrified at the idea that she might snap at him again. But this apparently did not seem to cross the boy's mind as he pulled her by the arm into the barn. She also was not looking forward to the prospect of having the whole night to think about just how much of a terrible person she was.

But as she climbed up into the hayloft, she was surprised to find that Steven followed her. As she sat in her usual position of curling up into a ball, he had dragged his sleeping bag up with him and laid it out beside her as he crawled into it. Peridot looked at him curiously. "Don't you usually sleep in that broken down vehicle down there…?"

Steven responded with a smile. "Yeah, but you always look so lonely up here that I thought I would sleep up here with you tonight." Just then he sat up in his sleeping bag, his eyes shining like two stars as an idea entered his mind. "Hey, you should try sleeping too! You've tried a lot of other things recently and liked them, and it's a great way to… take your mind off of some things for a bit." He said the last part very cautiously. Peridot sighed- it did sound nice to forget about her mission for a while. So she nodded, although a little bit reluctant. Steven shot his fists into the air. "Woo-hoo! Slumber Party!" Peridot had no idea what Steven was talking about, but she didn't bother to ask him about that. Instead, she asked him, "So, how do I engage myself in this…sleep?"

Steven took no time in delving into an explanation. "Well, first, you need to lie down and get comfortable." He gestured for her to do so. Peridot flopped down on her side onto the wooden floor, her legs curled up and her one arm tucked underneath her while the other was draped over her side. She looked at Steven for approval. Steven barely suppressed a giggle- she looked like a little kitten. "Well, are you sure you're comfortable like that?" he asked. The hard wood looked most unenjoyable. Peridot rolled her eyes. "Yes Steven, it's perfectly comfortable."

So Steven continued. "Well, okay then. This next part is really hard to explain. You close your eyes and… try not to think about anything, and eventually, you'll fall asleep." But Peridot stared at him in confusion. "Steven, how do you expect me to do that? The way a brain works does not physically allow it to…"

Steven cut her off. "Okay, okay! So maybe you shouldn't try to not think about _anything_ … but maybe just try not to think about anything stressful. Just soothing thoughts that'll help you fall asleep." Peridot inwardly moaned. That would be near impossible…

Steven noticed her unease. "Hey, I have an idea. I'll stay up and watch until you fall asleep." And with that, he crawled out of his sleeping bag and sat cross-legged over Peridot. She sighed. "Okay, fine." And she closed her eyes.

Peridot actually found it much easier than expected to sort off "shut off" her brain. She, of course, wouldn't be able to not think at all, but she managed to follow Steven's advice and just think soothing thoughts. Before she knew it, she could feel herself drifting away from consciousness, and just barely heard Steven say, "Good night, Peridot. Sweet dreams." Peridot had no idea what he meant by that, but as her awareness faded into nothing, she was about to find out.

Steven noticed after a few minutes as Peridot's breathing deepened and then evened out. Satisfied, he crawled back into his sleeping bag and closed his own eyes. Within hardly more than a minute, he was out cold, which is why he failed to notice as Peridot began to shift and moan in her sleep.


	12. Chapter 12: Peridot's Dream

**Hello, guys. As promised, here is chapter twelve, back to back with chapter 11. Just a warning- this one gets REALLY emotional. Also, expect a brief hiatus after this one-I want to spend the rest of this week focusing on school- and it's almost midnight and I need my sleep, so I didn't proofread this one either. Sorry about that. So brace yourselves and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

Peridot found herself in an entirely white space, devoid of anything besides herself. She looked around, confused. "Where am I?" she thought aloud. "There has to be some explanation for this…"

Peridot was trying to figure out what was going on when she heard a loud cry from behind her. "Peridot!" It was Amethyst's voice. As Peridot whipped around, she saw Amethyst on her belly, with tears in her eyes, and wrapped around her leg was a strange black matter. It began to drag Amethyst backward, away from Peridot. "Help!" she screamed.

Peridot, on instinct, began to chase after Amethyst and the strange thing that was holding onto her. But the creature pulled Amethyst away faster than Peridot could run, and soon it dragged Amethyst out of Peridot's sight. Moments after, a large white cloud erupted in the distance. Peridot ran even faster in that direction. "Amethyst!"

But as Peridot came closer, she noticed that many small purple objects littered the ground. She stopped dead in front of them. They were the shards of Amethyst's shattered gem. Peridot collapsed to her knees and grabbed and clutched the shards in her hands as a trickle of tears poured down her face. "No…"

Out of the corner of her eye, Peridot spotted a black shape dart around the side of her vision. It looked like a shadow monster- a black blob. Peridot, filled with anger, began to pursue the blob until it zipped to the side and she lost sight of it. Then she heard a series of grunts and cries, matching Pearl's voice. As Peridot dashed to the left, she found Pearl, her spear drawn, fighting off the monster. The blob shot out tentacles, seeking to grab Pearl. She was trying her best to prod them all away. "Pearl!" Peridot cried out. Unfortunately, Pearl glanced at Peridot with a worried expression, which gave the shadow an opening. It grew larger and then swallowed Pearl as it completely enveloped her, blocking Peridot's view of her. The little gem watched, horrified, as a scream emitted from the center of the shadow and a large explosion sounded. The shadow leaked away to reveal Pearl's shattered gem. Peridot began slowly backing up. "No… this can't be happening…"

She backed up right into Garnet, with her gauntlets summoned. The towering fusion looked terrified, and nervously yelled, "Peridot you need to get out of here!" Peridot just stood there, overwhelmed with everything. _Pearl and Amethyst are gone…_

Just then the shadow materialized in from of Garnet. In a last attempt to protect Peridot, she grabbed her and threw her to the side, far away from the danger. As Peridot crashed to the ground, she could only watch as the shadow shot multiple tentacles at Garnet. Unfortunately, the fusion could not stop all of them. They wrapped around her wrists, making her unable to move. Peridot covered her mouth in horror as another tentacle wrapped around Garnet's torso and squeezed- which caused Garnet to poof.

Peridot finally got the sense to take action. "Garnet!" she yelled. Dashing over to the two gems, she grabbed them and hugged them to her chest protectively, scowling at the shadow. However, the shadow charged at Peridot and encompassed her in complete black. It phased through her as Peridot closed her eyes, a chill running down her spine upon contact with the creature. When Peridot opened her eyes, Garnet's gems were no longer in her hands and instead in pieces on the ground before her. Filled with blinding fury, she screamed into the blank area, "Show yourself, coward! I-I'm not afraid of you!" The shadow suddenly crept underneath her and connected with her feet. Snapping her head to the side, Peridot saw that the shadow ran from her feet onto the white wall beside her, and its shape matched her body almost perfectly.

Peridot stood there, utterly confused. _The shadow belongs to me?_ Suddenly, she understood. "You- you're _my_ shadow! It was me that killed the Crystal Gems! I-I'm the monster…" she trailed off, her voice quieting at the last sentence. Tears spilled down her face. "No! I never wanted this to happen! I don't want it to be this way." Suddenly, they shadow disconnected from her and began to form. It took a shape and suddenly materialized into solid matter, no longer black but instead multiple shades of green. Peridot stared, shocked. The shadow had become her- but with limb enhancers. Shadow Peridot was smiling maniacally, tall and menacing. Peridot began to tremble as the shadow started toward her. As it towered over her in her form, it placed one floating finger under Peridot's chin and lifted it so Peridot was forced to look herself square in the face.

"Oh, Peridot…" it said in her voice. "This is exactly what you wanted." Suddenly, it dematerialized into shadow again and split into four, each part going to one of her arms and legs. Peridot watched, terrified, as the four parts each swirled around her feet and hands and suddenly materialized as her limb enhancers. She fell backwards as Shadow Peridot's voice echoed in her head. " _This is who you are… This is what you want!_ " Peridot closed her eyes, and screamed back, "No! I don't want this anymore! I don't want to be an emotionless robot anymore!" She scraped the limb enhancers. "Please, get these off! They're the reason I can't _feel_ anything!"

Shadow Peridot's voice cackled, and began firing thoughts into Peridot's mind, thoughts programmed into her by Homeworld. Peridot tried to counteract each one, tried to dispel the voice plaguing her, yelling and grabbing at her hair with her floating fingers.

 _You're a disgrace!_

"I'm my own person!"

 _You still miss Homeworld!_

"The Crystal Gems love me!"

 _You were meant to serve Yellow Diamond!_

"I'm FREE!"

Peridot opened her eyes. She was standing now, one arm attachments pointed into a cannon, and aiming at…

"Steven?"

The little boy was on his knees, staring up at Peridot with tears pouring down his face. There were so many emotions mixed into his expression- hurt, sadness, and betrayal. It stung peridot like she had just been thrown into a vat of acid. Suddenly Shadow Peridot's voice echoed through the area. " _This is what you were meant to do… FINISH THE JOB!"_

Peridot looked at Steven again. He let out a small, tiny whimper. "Peridot…" and that's what made Peridot realize that she couldn't do it. She lowered her arm and yelled to the shadow, "I won't do it! I might be made to serve Yellow Diamond, but I don't want this!"

Suddenly Steven dissipated into the shadow, and Peridot's enhancers dematerialized, leaving her natural hands and feet. The shadow asked in her voice, "Then what _do_ you want, Peridot?"

Peridot said in a quiet weak voice, "I… I want to be with my friends. I want to be free and loved for who I am."

The shadow suddenly expanded and continued to grow until it took the form of Yellow Diamond. She towered over Peridot, a look of pure fury on her face. "Then you shall pay for your treachery with your life!" She raised her boot, and it came down hard on the small, fragile gem, ending everything.

* * *

Peridot awoke in a cold sweat, sitting bolt upright and gasping. She began hyperventilating, extremely confused. _I'm not dead?_ She touched the gem on her forehead- it was perfectly fine. How was she still alive?

"Peridot?" The gem in question jumped at the sudden sound and snapped her head in the direction of the voice. Steven was staring at her, a concerned expression on his face. She looked at him, her expression portraying a desperate cry for an explanation. "Steven, I… had a vision of some sort, and-"

"You woke up so suddenly…" Steven said, and not more than a second later he realized what had happened. "Oh… you had a nightmare." Peridot's expression, still terrified, probed him for an explanation. "It happens sometimes when you sleep. Your brain will create a weird event in your head that feels like it's real- called a dream. Some of them can be really fun, but other times they're really scary. That's tough luck that it happened your first time sleeping." He tried to cheer his friend up, but his joke didn't land. Peridot just looked away. She remembered this… "nightmare" so vividly, and it only reminded her of all the overwhelming and battling emotions inside her head.

"Was it really bad? You can tell me about it if it makes you feel better. Sometimes I'll tell Pearl and it feels good just to-"

Steven was interrupted as Peridot suddenly threw herself at Steven, clinging onto the sleeve of his nightshirt and burying her face into his shoulder. Her shoulders began shaking, and Steven could hear small little whimpers escaping her throat. He pulled her into a hug, squeezing her affectionately to comfort her. Everything that built up inside Peridot over the past few days that she kept behind a dam in her mind suddenly burst, and she let all her pain out in her tears. The small sobs quickly evolved into large, thick tears, coming down like a waterfall. She uncontrollably sobbed into Steven's shoulders, each whimper now racking her entire body. Steven was shocked to see her so emotionally broken- she usually kept herself together so well and he had never seen her really cry before. But he let her get it all out- he knew how important it was to let those feelings go. His shoulder was drenched, but he didn't care. Soothingly, he said, "It's okay, Peridot. Everybody needs to cry once in a while. And I'll always be here for you- I'm your friend."

Peridot looked up at Steven, her eyes red. In between her whimpers, she weakly asked, "We're…friends?" Steven smiled caringly. "Of course we are."

This made Peridot cry even harder. She realized that she couldn't do this, that she couldn't hurt the Crystal Gems. But she didn't know how to turn back from this. Now, she was not crying for herself, but she was grieving for Steven, and what was about to happen to him because of her.


	13. Chapter 13: Yellow Diamond's Peridot

**Hey guys, welcome back to Crystal's End. Sorry, this took awhile- I'm trying to take it slow now because I only have 2-4 chapters left to write and I don't know what I'm going to do with my life when I finish this fanfic. So expect the last few chapters to come out over the next 2-3 weeks. Good new, though- I actually proofread it this time! Sorry for mistakes in previous chapters- after re-reading them I realized I screwed up A LOT. But anyway, have fun reading!**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

After Peridot had collected herself enough, Steven went back to sleep. Peridot, however, did not follow suit, fearing another nightmare. The rest of the night, she watched as Steven slept so soundly, his chest heaving up and down. He looked so at ease- so peaceful. Peridot wondered how he could sleep so easily, not afraid of a nightmare occurring or paranoid in any way. For the next few hours, Peridot tried to occupy her thoughts and lead them away from her nightmare and everything else connected to it. She was somewhat successful- but a few times during the night her mind rounded back to all of the overwhelming and suffocating thoughts, and broke down again into fits of soft, ugly sniffling with her face in her hands, re-emphasizing the tear stains on her face.

For the next two days, Peridot fell into a state of isolated depression. She simply was counting down the days when fate would be determined and all of her problems would either disappear or haunt her forever. She worked furiously at the drill, using every single second in a hasty hope to finish construction before Yellow Diamond arrived. She hoped that in some miracle, they could finish early and be able to stop the Cluster before the Gems were killed. Then, at least, she could save the Earth, the planet that she inexplicably wanted to protect, to make up for not being able to save her friends that she loved. She knew in her heart, though, that it was like a child's dream- impossible.

During the times that the others forced Peridot to stop her work, meaning Garnet literally had to drag her away and pry the tools from her hands while ignoring her yells of protest, she didn't really speak other than to yell at Garnet. During those times she sat alone in the barn, losing herself to her thoughts. She tried sleeping again a few times during the day- surprised to find that she was able to with the sun burning brightly in the sky. Sometimes, she didn't dream at all. Once, she had a dream that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant- somewhere in between- but when she woke up the details became more and more muddled until they completely faded out of her mind. She didn't understand, but Steven said that sometimes your brain just automatically forgets dreams, which frustrated Peridot. The rest of the time, they were nightmares- all involving the same shadow creature. These were less traumatic, however. For example, one occurred where Peridot was walking in the woods, alone, and then the shadow appeared in front of her. She backed up in fear but was soon surrounded by multiple shadow monsters, in a tall and slender black form, and they enveloped her in darkness. Whilst dreaming, they seemed terrifying, but once she awoke she would realize that they weren't as scary as she originally thought. However, she did think that the monster kept appearing in her dreams because it was a symbol of her warring conscience- plaguing her day and night. Sleep wasn't a solution- she couldn't escape her problems that way.

A few times Peridot thought that she had gone completely insane, but then realized that if she had she would be numb to all these feelings. She even considered poofing herself- then she wouldn't have to face the Gems as they were terminated. But she quickly determined that it would only cause her to wake up alone after she regenerated- with no Crystal Gems _and_ no Yellow Diamond. She would be doomed to remain on Earth and be shattered as the Cluster took its form.

It didn't take Steven very long to notice the sudden personality shift in his friend, but he didn't know how he could help. Every time he tried to say something to her, she would either pretend not to hear him or give him a blunt response that took the conversation nowhere. So Steven and the Gems could only watch as Peridot's dark thoughts slowly deteriorated her.

* * *

Yellow Diamond sat in a large chair in the main control room, watching her Era 1 Peridots hard at work at the control panel. It was a tight fit- her head was only a few feet away from the ceiling- because, since she only had to accommodate a handful of Gems, Yellow Diamond had decided to take a smaller ship, and not her usual main yellow hand. Instead, she was in a newer version of the same type of vessel that Peridot had taken to Earth all those months ago. Yellow Diamond knew they were not far from Earth now- it was a day early, but it was because she had managed to persuade the Rose Quartz soldiers much easier than expected. Once their mission was explained, they were so eager to avenge their fallen Pink Diamond that they agreed without question. Therefore, they had departed in advance. Yellow Diamond smiled at how perfectly everything was going- of course, she expected no less.

One of the peridots at the control panel broke through Yellow Diamond's thoughts as she spoke. "My Diamond, we are nearing planet Earth and will arrive in approximately one Earthen hour. You instructed me to remind you about Peridot 2F5L, and so I am acting accordingly." The peridot saluted, which looked much cleaner than when Era 2 peridots did so. The older ones were naturally tall and slender, with long, elegant arms that were normal- rather than thick, out of proportion limb enhancers. Yellow Diamond smiled inwardly at this and then focused on the task at hand.

"Yes, yes. Thank you for remembering, 5D9H. I wanted to pick her up in advance, and I have sent a tiger's eye to get her. She should be arriving at her location soon. We are in a close radius of Earth now; you should be in the range of the peridot. If you could send a telepathic message to 2F5L, I would be much obliged. Let her know that we will be arriving shortly and that the tiger's eye will be there to pick her up so she should equip her enhancers."

Peridot 5D9H nodded, and closed her eyes, focusing on establishing a mental connection with Peridot 2F5L. Yellow Diamond absolutely adored her Era 1 peridots- they had such marvelous telepathic powers. To name a few, they could read minds and transmit telepathic messages, enter someone's memories, and even manipulate what a person was seeing and cause hallucinations. It was a shame that so many were wiped out in the Gem War- there were so few left now.

Yellow Diamond's face darkened at the thought and she visibly scowled. It was yet another reason that she despised the Crystal Gems- they had done so much damage in the war. Yellow Diamond's anticipation of their arrival grew- eager to watch as those gems were reduced to stardust.

* * *

The morning before the day of Yellow Diamond's arrival, Peridot went outside to say good morning to the Gems, as always. However, they said that today would be a different morning than usual. Pearl decided to explain.

"Peridot, today we're going on a mission- we're doing a status check of the Kindergarten. We need to bring Steven with us for this one- so you have the barn to yourself. You can work on the drill if you want… but don't worry, we'll be back soon."

Even Steven was surprised that the Gems were taking him on this one- initially, he was ecstatic as his eyes lit up like stars. Then he glanced back at Peridot, who had begun walking away after she had nodded in understanding. "Hold on a sec," he told the Gems, then hurried after Peridot, calling her name. The little gem stopped and turned, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Steven scratched the back of his head, asking, "Um… are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Peridot, almost without thinking, quickly responded while waving him off, "Yes, yes, I'll be fine! Just hurry up and leave so you can hurry up and come back." As Steven turned to run back to the Gems, Peridot had a thought to hug him and wish him luck. However, she brushed the thought away. If she was to aid Yellow Diamond when she arrived the next day, she would have to get used to ignoring her emotions again. After the Gems had left, Peridot walked back into the barn. When she passed the drill, she did consider working on it but decided against it. _Yellow Diamond wouldn't want it._ She told herself. The other voice in her head said- _But what about what I want?_ She ignored it, although it proved quite hard.

Peridot crawled back into the hayloft, sitting near the edge. She attempted to try and make her mind go blank- she had done so the past couple of days when she didn't want to think about her mission or anything else.

However, it had hardly been a minute when an odd sensation fell over Peridot. She looked around, confused. For some reason, she felt as if someone was watching her. Suddenly, she heard a loud voice inside her head. _Hello? Can you hear me?_

Peridot screamed in alarm and tumbled backward, falling out of the hayloft and landing painfully on her back. She groaned, and then thought of yelling 'who's there?', when the voice sounded again. _This is Peridot 5D9H. I'm transmitting a message directly into your brain._ Peridot suddenly realized and said out loud, "You're… in my brain? I thought only Era 1 peridots could do that." Peridot could feel the gem on the other end grow slightly irritated. _Yes, I'm an Era 1 peridot on the way to Earth with Yellow Diamond. She told me to deliver this message to you- We're nearing Earth and she has sent a Tiger's Eye to retrieve you in advance and bring you back to the ship. She should be at your location any minute now, and Yellow Diamond says to equip your limb enhancers and expect her arrival._ Peridot was shocked. Didn't Yellow Diamond say she would be there tomorrow? Why was she early? A feeling of unease washed over Peridot- her fate was to come sooner than expected- and she didn't realize that the peridot on the other end had been hearing what she was thinking the whole time and felt as Peridot became filled with anxiety. Pitying the Era 2 gem, she added one more transmission. _Don't be nervous- Yellow Diamond isn't mad at you. In fact, she's actually pretty pleased with you. You should be happy. I'll see you on the ship in a bit._

Suddenly the uncomfortable feeling lifted from Peridot's shoulders as the telepathic link was broken. However, the feeling of unease stayed. But suddenly the thought that Yellow Diamond was here caused Peridot's feelings to shift. Now determined, she rushed over to the corner of the barn and quickly uncovered her limb enhancers. As she slipped them on, she filled her mind with thoughts that Homeworld wanted her to think- she thought how great it felt that her Diamond was pleased with her, and how she would return to Homeworld a hero. As Peridot stood, she accomplished what she had needed- the little emotional Peridot retreated deep into her mind, eclipsed by the cold, calculated Homeworld Gem that took her place. Peridot walked back outside, drowning out every thought, every memory of Steven and the Gems- right now, her only focus was Homeworld and Yellow Diamond.

Mere moments later, a small Roaming Eye vessel appeared out of the sky and landed a few feet in front of Peridot, the door opening. As Peridot confidently strolled forward, Tiger's Eye poked her head out, seeing Peridot and smiling as she walked up the ramp. "Oh, you're all ready to go! Welcome back, Peridot!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Peridot boarded the ship and took a seat in the back. She crossed one extended leg over the other and gave an expressionless, cold smile as she said, "Thank you, Tiger's Eye. I trust your flight here was all well and good. Well, let's hurry up and get back to Yellow Diamond."

Peridot kept the wall of her Homeworld personality around herself, but her emotions penetrated for just a moment at the sound of her voice- she sounded so cold and authoritative, not like herself at all. She quickly threw the thought away, however, as Tiger's Eye took her seat in the cockpit and ecstatically said, "Of course, Peridot!" It was proving a little bit difficult for Peridot to keep her emotions corralled- much like holding a shapeshifted form for too long. It was possible, but got harder and harder the longer she kept it up and was very straining. However, her limb enhancers were helping her. Tuning out her emotions, they did not make her feel as guilty as she branded them.

As they shot back up into the sky, Tiger's Eye began talking, as usual. "Yellow Diamond seemed very eager to see you again. I think she's really proud of you for completing this mission. You must be honored, given such attention and opportunity by Yellow Diamond herself!"

Peridot beamed, or, at least, gave the Homeworld equivalent of beaming. Which meant that Peridot gave a prideful smirk and gloated, "Of course I am. I must also say I'm quite eager to get off this planet and see her again." Again, Peridot's emotions broke through slightly. _What am I saying? I don't hate Earth._ But, once again, she shook the thought away.

Tiger's Eye giggled. "You're in a much better mood than you were on the way here."

A few minutes later the large ship came into view. Peridot momentarily felt a sense of nostalgia- it was the same model that she had brought to Earth months ago. But she didn't have time to think about it much, as they had landed in the docking station before Peridot knew it. The two gems got out of the small vessel and walked down the ship's corridor as Tiger's Eye escorted Peridot to the main control room, where Yellow Diamond was waiting for her.

Tiger's Eye opened the room's door as Peridot stepped in. She was met by the gaze of Yellow Diamond, along with five Era 1 peridots, a bunch of Amethysts, and… Rose Quartz soldiers? Peridot was momentarily confused but didn't have much time to reflect on it as a chorus of voices erupted from the control room, congratulating her.

"You did it!" a rose quartz gently cheered.

"Great work out there." A peridot said. Peridot immediately recognized her, due to her voice, as the one who had sent her the telepathic message.

"You actually managed to do it!" an Amethyst cheered, pumping her fist.

Numerous other voices sounded throughout the room, but everyone fell silent as Yellow Diamond held out her hand. She then gave a proud smile as Peridot saluted her.

"Welcome back Peridot. You did a wonderful job. Come stand by me." There were a few audible gasps in the room. Being asked to stand next to a Diamond was an incredible honor, and Peridot, swelling with pride, arrogantly strolled over and stood at Yellow Diamond's side. She put her arms behind her back and straightened up in a professional stance.

Yellow Diamond turned to look at Peridot again, and added, "We'll be nearing Earth soon. I can't say how pleased I am with you. I am proud to call you a member of my court. You'll be greatly commemorated on Homeworld once we return."

Hearing this, a couple of the other peridots turned around and glared at Peridot. She counterattacked with a smug smirk. Era 1 and 2 Peridots always tended to have tense connections, as each wanted to prove that they were better members of their Diamond's court. And for once the Era 2 peridots had the upper hand.

Yellow Diamond spoke again. "Well, time to get back to work. Peridots, return to steering the ship towards the gem's location."

Suddenly Peridot remembered that the Gems weren't at the barn- but they were at the Kindergarten. Quickly, she said, "My Diamond, the gems are not at their initial location at this moment. They are currently in the Prime Kindergarten in Facet 5."

Yellow Diamond sighed. "Of course they made this more difficult. No matter- thank you for informing me, Peridot. The rest of you- redirect the ship's course accordingly."

Nobody spoke for quite a bit after that, simply watching the Earth grow larger as the ship drew nearer. The little voice of Peridot's emotional side suddenly broke through the barrier and fired thoughts around her head. _What am I doing? This isn't me! I'm not an emotionless robot._

For a moment, the guilt penetrated her emotionless state, and the wave of remorse hit her like a punch to the gut. Was she really going to pull through with this?

Peridot glanced up at Yellow Diamond, and that was all it took. Her programming consumed her and completely enveloped the voice in her head. She stood up tall again, with an indifferent expression, and watched as the ship shot towards the Earth and the Crystal Gem's impending doom. She simply repeated these thoughts in her head: _This_ is _me- I am to serve Yellow Diamond. This is what I was made for, what I was programmed to do. Steven doesn't matter. The Crystal Gems don't matter. I am Yellow Diamond's peridot- and always will be._


	14. Chapter 14: Betrayal

**Hey guys, welcome back again to Crystal's End. Gosh, I'm getting so close to the end. I don't want it to end because then I won't know what to do with my life anymore, so it might be awhile before the next chapter comes out. Expect it in 5-7 days. Anyway, I'm really proud of this one and had fun writing it, and proofread it twice for maximum quality! And sorry for the cliffhanger** **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

At first, the mission went smoothly. The Gems, along with Steven, walked around the Kindergarten, searching for injectors that were powered on (although the odds of one actually being on were one in a thousand) and searching the area for gem mutants. This was the reason they had brought Steven- his bubble would come in handy in the event that they did encounter a mutant. Garnet was very on edge, and usually, when a monster appeared she would let Pearl and Amethyst do the dirty work. Steven remembered the first time they had discovered the mutants, and Garnet had been horrified. It was the one chink in her armor that, if hit, could make Garnet fall apart. They only ran into a few monsters, most of which were just some combined hands or feet- no real threat. They were easy to handle- just poof and bubble, poof and bubble, over and over again.

However, throughout the whole mission, Steven couldn't shake a nagging feeling that something was wrong. He thought of Peridot and how they had left her alone at the barn. What if she went missing again? There was an odd aura about the day, but Steven couldn't exactly place it. It also didn't take long to realize that Garnet shared the uneasy feeling. A few times throughout the mission, Garnet would suddenly stop, clutch her head, and groan loudly. When Pearl inquired what the problem was with a worried tone, Garnet assured her that it was just her future vision- it acted up at times when there were many negative outcomes in the near future. This, of course, did not ease Pearl's feelings in the slightest, because she was now paranoid at the prospect of something terrible happening.

The Gems continued on with their mission, with Garnet and Steven attempting to ignore their bad feelings. However, the notion was suddenly encouraged as the Gems noticed the sky begin to turn a shade of green. It happened gradually, so they naturally assumed they were just seeing things. However, as it became more and more apparent, there was no denying that something was wrong.

Steven was the first to mention it. "Guys? What's going on with the sky?" Pearl was the first to respond, and she naturally attempted to make a best-case scenario explanation. "I'm not sure, Steven. But it's probably one of Earth's strange events called a solar eclipse. The sun is probably being overlapped by the moon, and it's creating an odd color in the sky!" It was obvious by her voice that Pearl was trying to convince _herself_ of this as well as Steven. Suddenly, an ominous wind began sweeping through the Kindergarten, whirling around the four at unnaturally high speeds. Garnet gave Pearl a look. "I don't think it's an eclipse…"

Steven and Amethyst exchanged nervous glances. Their eyes drifted to a collapsed wall to the right, with a clear view of the entire sky. Silently agreeing, they dashed in that direction and stopped in front of the wall. What they saw made their jaws drop. Amethyst quickly glanced back and shouted over the winds to Pearl and Garnet, "Guys, it's definitely NOT an eclipse… come quickly!"

Pearl and Garnet dashed over to the wall, where Steven was paralyzed in shock, and Amethyst was trembling in anxiety. After one quick glance, the two taller gem's moods suddenly shifted to match Steven and Amethysts' exactly.

What they saw was a large, green spaceship in the shape of a hand, pointing directly at the Kindergarten and hurtling towards the Earth. Each Gem had a different reaction, but all went into full panic. Pearl, screeching like a bird, ran in circles yelling, "They're coming back! Again! What do we do?!" Garnet summoned her gauntlets, gritting her teeth. "They're coming for us! They know we're in the Kindergarten!" Amethyst, with her hair whipping around her face from the strong winds, held her hands on her head in a stressed manner. She cried, "Do we warp back? How are we gonna take them on?!" Steven, the entire time, was watching the ship grow larger and larger in a state of numb horror.

However, he was snapped back to the present as Garnet grabbed him and held him under her arm like a football. "No, there's no time to warp back! The pad is too far away! We need to get deeper into the Kindergarten!" And with that, Garnet took off, still carrying Steven, with Pearl and Amethyst hurrying after her. Steven thought of the warp pad, on the other side of the Kindergarten, out of reach and unable to save them.

And then Steven remembered that Peridot was still at the barn.

His eyes widened. He suddenly began yelling at Garnet, "Wait, stop! We need to go back!" Garnet kept running but turned her head to face Steven, her teeth gritted in what was as close as Garnet got to terrified expression. "Steven, we can't go back! We need to keep going! Why do you…?"

Steven kept yelling. "Peridot is still at the barn! We need to go back for her, she can't protect herself! Please, Garnet!"

Garnet kept running. "Steven, there's no time! I'm sorry, we just can't." Steven began punching and kicking at Garnet's side in an attempt to get her to release him. Tears poured down his face. "Garnet, listen to me! We have to! Let me go!"

Garnet stopped for a moment and held Steven in front of her face. "Steven," she said in a stony voice, "If Peridot stays at the barn, and then she'll be away from us when the Homeworld Gems arrive. She'll be safer there. You want to protect her- so do it by leaving her there. _Please_ understand, Steven." Steven stopped struggling as her words sank in. He sadly nodded, and with that, the decision was made. Pearl, who had stopped after Garnet but could not hear what was happening, yelled over the wind, "Garnet! Is everything okay?" Garnet tucked Steven under her arm again. "Yes! Keep going!" she called back.

* * *

Yellow Diamond smiled as the ship lowered upon the Kindergarten, as this would be the moment when all of her anticipation would pay off. She quickly shot out an order. "Soldiers- move out from the fingertips and attack the traitors. Do not destroy their forms- just disarm and apprehend them." As the Peridots, Rose Quartzes, and Amethysts filed out of the control room, Yellow Diamond turned to Peridot, standing expectantly at her side. "Peridot, you wait here with me. We will join them for the grand finale."

Peridot saluted. "Of course, My Diamond." And along with Yellow Diamond, Peridot watched through the main window as each soldier filed out of the ship and charged at the Crystal Gems.

* * *

It was too late. The Gems froze as a large shadow fell over them. The ship was here. Suddenly, Garnet rushed over to the wall, where a gem's exit hole was standing." She quickly threw Steven in, and as he hit the back wall she said, "Steven, we'll handle this. Stay in here, and don't come out. _No matter what._ " She said the last part in a cold, authoritative tone, emphasizing that she was serious. Before Steven could respond, Garnet ran back over to Pearl and Amethyst. He crept back up to the front of the hole so he could watch. He saw the Crystal Gems form a circle, their backs pressing against each other, as Pearl and Amethyst drew their weapons. The ship was now hovering right above the Kindergarten, and came to a slow landing in the open area that the Gems had just retreated from, disrupting the dirt and causing dust to fly everywhere in large clouds. The winds ceased as the ship landed. Steven and the Gems could only see the silhouettes of nearby objects through the dust.

Suddenly, each fingertip of the ship opened to create a large door, and the outlines of gem soldiers poured out of each hole. There weren't very many- which surprised Steven. He thought that Homeworld would send a lot of Gems if they were trying to get rid of them, especially after the last time they sent too small a number to destroy the Crystal Gems. He heard Garnet shout, "Gems, divide and conquer!" and the three silhouettes separated, fading out of Steven's vision until the dust settled.

Pearl ran at the soldiers entering from the left. They looked like larger gems, but there only appeared to be a few of them. _Nothing I can't handle!_ Pearl thought determinedly. However, just as Pearl was about to get in range, the dust cleared, revealing multiple tall figures wearing white dresses, with long, curly pink hair. Pearl stopped dead in her tracks. "Rose…?" she breathed. But it only took her a moment to shake the feeling off. These Gems weren't _her_ Rose- she could easily differentiate them by the dark, menacing expressions they wore. Regaining her battle instincts, Pearl ran at the one closest to her and jumped, ready to thrust her spear into its form. But suddenly, the Rose Quartz summoned a pink shield- with rose patterns etched into the large circle. The shield stopped the impact, throwing Pearl back and tossing the spear out of her hand. Pearl landed on her back, staring up at the Rose Quartz. She bore the same shield, the same defensive aura, the same appearance. Pearl began trembling, tears coming down her face in thick globs. "N-No… Rose…" she whimpered. Two other Rose Quartzes each grabbed one of her arms, raising her up. Pearl struggled, but it was no use. Her arms were twisted behind her back, and her wrists were cuffed together with a metallic yellow chain and wrist clamps that bore a resemblance to human handcuffs. Pearl was dragged away, back towards the ship, screaming and thrashing in a desperate escape attempt to escape that fell upon deaf ears.

Garnet had taken the soldiers emerging from the center. The dust cleared to reveal five Era 1 Peridots standing in a line, not even attacking. Garnet gave out a battle cry and charged the line. However, before she reached them, they all gave a smirk in perfect synchronization, almost like robots. Suddenly, a horde of Gem monsters erupted from the ground and attacked Garnet. She stood there, horrified, for a moment, but quickly realized that it was poof or be poofed. She drove a fist into each monster, screaming "I'm sorry!" with each blow and eruption of clouds as a monster was poofed. However, it seems like for every monster she poofed, two more emerged. They slowly began chanting the same words in a monotonous, eerie cry. _Garnet… Help us…_

Garnet began backing up in horror and stopped poofing the monsters. "I-I'm sorry!" she yelled. "I don't know how!" Garnet realized that she had not been paying attention to where she was backing up, and she backed right into the expectant hands of three of the peridots. Suddenly all of the monsters dissolved at once, and Garnet's hands were seized and bound in less than a second. The two Peridots who had still been in front of her approached as Garnet began struggling, and one kicked her legs out from under her in one swift motion. Garnet landed on her side and her breath escaped her lungs in a wince. She groaned in pain. The last remaining peridot put her hands on her hips. "Good work, team." She said, "I forgot how great it felt to use our hallucination powers."

Garnet suddenly understood what had happened- the peridots had made her hallucinate the gem monsters with their abilities to manipulate her brain waves. While she was distracted, three of them had snuck behind her and captured her. Like Pearl, Garnet was led back towards the ship.

Unfortunately, Amethyst had no better luck. She had taken the soldiers to the right, which happened to be the Amethysts. Amethyst could tell what they were even before the dust settled, due to their strongly built shape and messy, long hair. They leaped high into the air and landed in the formation of a loose, spread-out circle around Amethyst. They all towered over her, smiling menacingly. One of them said, "Look, the little runt thinks she can take us." The rest of them laughed. Amethyst was filled with anger, and yelled, "Well, have you ever seen a runt do THIS?" and she flung her whip at one of the other Amethysts. They grabbed the whip in their hands with seeming ease and used it to yank Amethyst toward them and kick her in the gut. She crashed to the ground and skidded along her side. "That all you got, defect?" the Amethyst mocked.

Amethyst rose shakily, her whip still in hand. Filled with anger, she irrationally used her spin attack and charged another Amethyst, blinded by rage. She managed to knock the quartz to the ground, but she was then seized by two more Amethysts, who proceeded to sock her in the gut multiple times. Amethyst fell to the ground again, moaning. She had dropped her whip, leaving her at the mercy of the other Amethysts. One picked her up by the collar of her tank top, dangling her above the ground. Amethyst blindly threw a few weak punches around, but none of them connected with a target. Before she knew it, her hands had been bound and she was led away as well.

Steven had been watching the fights in horror. How could they be losing? As he watched the Gems being dragged away, bound and beaten, he disobeyed Garnet's instruction and dashed out into the open, filled with anger and fear. "Guys!" He yelled.

But not even three seconds after he emerged from his hole, an Amethyst's foot collided with his side and he was thrown to the ground. He could hear Pearl screaming his name. The Amethyst ran over to Steven again and raised her fist, preparing to deliver a second blow. But Steven quickly stood as the fist came down, and it collided with his shield instead. Steven, with a determined expression, blocked blow after blow with his shield. Unfortunately, he could not hold out long against the sheer force of the blows. With each collision, he became weaker and weaker, which caused him to slightly let his guard down. However, it was enough of an opening for a second Amethyst to dash around and seize him from behind. His shield dissolved as he was raised off the ground, and his wrists were cuffed as well. Soon, he was led back to the rest of the Gems and dropped down on the ground, right next to Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst, whose shackles were all now each being held by an Amethyst, and they were forced to stand.

They were standing about 20 feet in front of the ship. All of the Homeworld soldiers were standing behind them, staring at the ship as if expecting something. The Crystal Gems were momentarily befuddled, but their question was answered mere moments after. In the palm of the ship's hand-like shape, a large platform rose up, revealing a large, yellow gem. They all gasped as Yellow Diamond became visible, standing tall and intimidatingly on the top of the ship. She walked along the top, eventually coming down on one finger and them stepping down onto the Earth's soil. She clapped her hands together in mock excitement. "Well, well, what do we have here? It seems like I've got you all just where I want you." Steven shivered at the sound of Yellow Diamond's booming voice, cold and sadistic. He gathered up his courage and shouted, "What are _you_ doing on Earth? Don't you have other planets to go be a jerk on?"

Yellow Diamond gave a cold, heartless laugh. "Why, I'm here to destroy you, of course." She turned her head to the side, apparently looking at something behind her. "And I had some help."

Then a thin, green-colored gem stepped out from behind Yellow Diamond. She was obviously dwarfed by Yellow Diamond, but she was decently tall by usual standards. She was wearing a set of limb enhancers, standing with her arms behind her back and her legs locked together in an intimidating stance. Her yellow hair was fashioned in a triangular shape, and her narrowed eyes and straight-lined mouth were complemented by a yellow visor that covered half of her face. Steven's jaw dropped in shock and horror. The rest of the Gem's expressions were very similar.

"Peridot?!"


	15. Chapter 15: The Testing of Loyalties

**Hey, guys. I'm here one day early with the newest chapter of Crystal's End! I know I said to expect it in five to seven days, but since today's episode of Steven Universe was canceled and now it's on hiatus again, I got mad and filled the void in my life with writing. As for those of you who were worried that this would go on a 6-month hiatus (cough cough MoonPoppy), rest assured that I would NEVER do that. I love writing this story and am so invested into it that I wouldn't be able to keep myself away for that long even if I tried. Not to mention that I hate it so much when authors suddenly abandon their projects and never give them a second thought- I would never do that to you guys. Also, it's another cliffhanger at the end, and I'm SO SORRY. It was going to be longer, but I couldn't find a good place to stop past this point in order to convey the idea well enough without it getting super long. So sit tight, I'll try to write the next chapter soon, and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

Steven just kept staring, dumbstruck. It took him much longer than it should have to realize what was happening. How could Peridot betray them? So many mixed emotions flooded him at once- surprise, hurt, anger. He closed his eyes- hoping that when he opened them, this would all have been a dream. That none of this would have happened, and he would wake up to Peridot sitting over him, watching while he slept.

He opened his eyes but the scene remained the same. He was still in the Kindergarten, captured along with the Crystal Gems. Yellow Diamond was still right in front of him, and Peridot was still at her side; seemingly indifferent, even _proud_ , at the prospect of Steven's demise. For a moment, it was easy for Steven to convince himself that this wasn't _his_ Peridot standing in front of him. She looked so different with her limb enhancers and the scowl on her face. Steven thought that this couldn't possibly be the same gem that had been crying into his shoulder just a couple of nights before. But the moment quickly passed- it was all too easy for Steven to recognize that this was Peridot and that she had betrayed him and the rest of the gems.

Before he had any more time to feel horrible, Yellow Diamond continued rubbing her victory in the Crystal Gem's faces. "I see you cannot believe this- your sweet, innocent little peridot, betraying you all. In fact, she has been feeding me information ever since she "disappeared". You couldn't possibly believe she truly went missing, could you? In reality, she had come back to Homeworld so I could assign her mission. She was to act as my undercover agent and tell me everything there was to know about you all. And she passed with flying colors- now I knew exactly where to hit you to crack your armor. I must admit- without her, I would never have been able to round you lot up so successfully."

As Yellow Diamond talked more and more, Steven continued staring at Peridot in shock. He had never suspected that she had gone bad again- he thought she had changed. This made him hurt even more. Peridot purposefully avoided Steven's gaze- she couldn't bring herself to look at the hurt on his face.

Suddenly, Pearl screamed in fury at Peridot. "You dirty little-!"

The Amethyst holding her yanked her chain, and Pearl was cut off. Yellow Diamond hissed, "Silence, pearl. Peridot did exactly the right thing- she served her purpose to the Authority to the best of her abilities. You have no reason to be angered with her."

As Steven's staring at Peridot was joined by Pearl's angry glare, seething with hatred, Peridot lowered her head, appearing to be proud of herself. However, she had actually lowered her head so nobody could see the large frown that creased her face. Her indifferent demeanor fell at the two stares, each crippling in their own way and locked onto Peridot. _Why aren't I happy? Yellow Diamond is right- I served the authority._ Peridot thought- but she already knew the answer, although he didn't like it. _I feel bad- it's my fault that they're all here._ Regaining her composure, she raised her head again with the same cold glare on her face. She managed to return Steven's stare with her own. On the inside, looking at his hurt crippled her, but she maintained her angry composure.

Yellow Diamond strode over to stand directly in front of Pearl, with Peridot following indifferently at her side. She studied Pearl for a moment and gave a menacing grin as she lifted Pearl's chin. "My, my, what a fancy pearl." She cooed. "Perhaps I might keep you as a servant." Pearl's eyes narrowed. She disrespectfully spat at Yellow Diamond. "I'd rather be shattered." She snarled. Yellow Diamond glared at Pearl and then kicked her in the shins. Pearl cried out as she fell to her knees. Peridot couldn't help but wince at the shrill sound of Pearl's screech of agony. "So be it, then." Yellow Diamond said, sounding bored.

She moved on to Garnet. The fusion raised her head, shooting a cold, intimidating glare at Yellow Diamond. Yellow Diamond chuckled, amused. "Oh, I remember you. You were the Ruby and Sapphire that fused all those millennia ago in the sky arena. Blue Diamond spoke of you. You're a disgrace to Homeworld- you don't deserve to be kept alive. However, I might give you up to Blue Diamond. I'm sure she'll have fun toying with you for a bit." Garnet's expression turned anxious at the mention of Blue Diamond.

Next was Amethyst, who was still struggling against her bonds. Yellow Diamond clicked her tongue. "Pity," she said in mock sympathy, "A defect. It's a shame- you could have been of use to Homeworld." Amethyst growled as Yellow Diamond put on finger under her chin like she had done with Pearl. Amethyst icily responded with, "Who cares about Homeworld? Earth is my home." Amethyst then proceeded to try to bite Yellow Diamond's finger. She swiftly retracted it, entertained by Amethyst's display. "What a feisty one. It might be fun to throw you in a pit fight for execution. Watching you struggle might prove amusing." Amethyst visibly squirmed at this.

Yellow Diamond returned to her original position right by the ship, having had her fill. Peridot mindlessly followed. As she came back to standing next to Yellow Diamond, she heard her speak. "Well, no use delaying it any longer. I, as previously stated, have come here to destroy you. However, as for you Gems, I don't intend to do it here on Earth. I am planning on taking you back to Homeworld so your elimination may be enjoyed by the other gems there. However, getting there might prove difficult with the Steven tagging along. His organic form may not respond well to traveling faster than the speed of light. So, therefore, he _will_ be dealt with here and now."

Steven's pupils shrank. He heard the Gems scream "No!" in unison, causing Yellow Diamond to produce an amused laugh. "Don't be like that. If you think about it, I'm doing him a favor. He'll be properly executed rather than flattened in space. He'll die gracefully here and now."

The Gems and Steven expected Yellow Diamond to destroy him herself. It surprised all of them when she turned to Peridot and said, "Peridot, please do the honor of terminating the Steven."

Even Peridot, who had up until this point kept her emotions behind bars, staggered back a little as her expression turned stunned like she had just been punched. She stared up at Yellow Diamond in surprise. She had assumed that since Yellow Diamond had bothered to come to Earth, she wouldn't have to be the one to do the job. "M-My Diamond…" she stammered, "You took the time and effort to come to Earth instead of having me finish the job quietly on my own. Shouldn't you be the one to destroy him?"

Yellow Diamond sighed. "Peridot, I did come to Earth, but when you called and told me you could not terminate the Steven on your own, you claimed it was because you would not be able to do it without the other Gems interfering. So here I am, and the Gems no longer stand in your way. The task can still easily be performed by you- so I suggest you follow your orders." Yellow Diamond didn't tell Peridot this, but she had noticed that Peridot had felt bad a few minutes prior when she saw the Steven in pain- she also wished for Peridot to carry out the task as a proof of allegiance to Homeworld.

Steven had helplessly watched the exchange. When Yellow Diamond had finished her explanation, Peridot looked at him. His eyes pleaded with her, and he hoped that she would object or resist. But to his dismay, Peridot nonchalantly said, "Of course, My Diamond."

Peridot used her floating fingers to form a cannon, and a small, green ball of electricity appeared in front of it, waiting to be released. She pointed the cannon at Steven. She tried to ignore the agonizing feeling of guilt as the orb spun in front of her, shading her face in an eerie green light and reflecting off her visor.

Steven, in a desperate state of panic, looked for any way he could get out of this. Suddenly it came to him- he remembered that Yellow Diamond had said that she had assigned Peridot to kill him on her own, but she had refused. He knew she cared about him; she was just trying not to think about it. He had to bring that Peridot out. Terrified, he looked her in the eyes, trying to see past her emotionless frown.

"Peridot!" He yelled. "This isn't you- I know the real you is in there!" Steven waited a moment, hoping he had gotten through to his friend that was trapped beneath the surface of Peridot's personality. Peridot's expression remained the same, but although he might have imagined it, Steven thought he saw the stone-coldness leave her eyes and they were momentarily filled with melancholy. He kept going. "You can't let what Homeworld wants you to be control you- you don't have to be a robot anymore. YOU ARE WHO YOU CHOOSE TO BE!" Small amounts of tears involuntarily formed in his eyes.

What he did worked. His words broke through Peridot's Homeworld side and released her emotions and feelings again. Peridot frowned, still holding the cannon in an idling position. Peridot looked right at Steven- he was on his knees, with tears in his eyes, pleading with her. She realized that he looked exactly like he did in her nightmare- they were in the exact same situation. She really was a monster.

But in that moment, Peridot had only a few seconds to choose between her friends and her home. She chose wisely.

Yellow Diamond tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, Peridot? Do it!" Peridot sighed and closed her eyes, mustering as much courage as she can. She lowered her arm cannon.

"No." she said affirmatively.

Yellow Diamond looked at her in confusion. "What?"

Peridot turned her head, now wearing a determined expression. "I said no." she repeated. Suddenly, she unexpectedly turned back around and fired four electric balls out of her cannon at once. Steven closed his eyes, expecting one to connect with him. However, Peridot had not been aiming for him. Her shots connected with each amethyst holding the Crystal Gems. They all erupted into clouds, their gems falling to the ground. The Crystal Gems, although confused at first, immediately got up and used each other to remove their bonds. Within a few moments, they were all uncuffed with their shackles discarded on the ground. However, they all stared at Peridot, utterly puzzled.

Yellow Diamond understood quicker than they did. Her expression grew angered as Peridot went to stand in front of the Crystal Gems. "What are you doing?" Yellow Diamond yelled. "You were meant to serve the Authority! Think of Homeworld! You status, your home, everything you've ever cared about! You're giving all of that up for these traitors?"

Peridot's fists clenched as she gritted her teeth. "You're wrong! You were wrong about everything! I might have been made to serve you, but nobody ever really cared about me! You used me as a tool- just another gem at your disposal that could be easily replaced. When I was stranded here in the first place, you never gave me a second thought. You were going to let me be killed as the Cluster emerged! When the Gems took me in, they loved who _I_ was! They didn't care if I was useful or not, they just loved me no matter what! The more time I spent on Earth, the more I realized there are things on this planet worth protecting! And I'm not going to stand here and help you destroy it! Yellow Diamond, welcome to Earth, where I'm FREE!"


	16. Chapter 16: Fixing What's Broken

**Hey, guys. It's here again! The next chapter of Crystal's End! Sorry that these ones are shorter, but I'm trying to stretch it out to make it last :). Expect two more chapters, and then I guess that's a wrap! So sit tight because I'm going to try to stretch it out, and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

The Gems stared at Peridot, amazed. Steven's mouth gaped open in an awestruck grin.

Yellow Diamond's face contorted with rage. How could she have been so foolish? Her Pearl had been right- the Peridot's loyalties had shifted. How could she put so much trust in a single puny peridot? She was filled with anger at her own foolishness, and it was only enhanced as she looked at the peridot's confident glare, standing protectively in front of the traitors.

The Homeworld soldiers had just been watching on in shock, standing behind the Gems but not doing anything. Suddenly, Yellow Diamond roared in rage, "You treacherous little backstabber! How dare you defy me?!" Yellow Diamond threw her hand back and swung at Peridot, swatting her to the side hard. Peridot screamed as she was thrown to the side and collided front-first with the Kindergarten's wall. There was a loud _CRACK!_ as Peridot's gem slammed into the hard rock. She fell to the ground, limp, with her back facing the Gems.

"Peridot!" Steven cried.

Peridot shifted and tried to push herself up with her arms. They shook with the effort, but she managed, the pain and effort evident by her gritted teeth and eyes squeezed shut. Steven could make out a large crevice in her gem- it was badly cracked.

"I'll deal with you later." Yellow Diamond hissed at Peridot. She snapped her attention back to her soldiers, who were all still staring in shock. "Get them, you fools!" she shrieked.

The Crystal Gems summoned their weapons, and a fierce battle engaged between the Gems and the soldiers. The Crystal Gems no longer let their weaknesses control them- instead, they faced them head on with renewed vigor, and as a result, they no longer affected them. Steven, however, did not join the battle. He immediately ran over to Peridot's side. As he arrived, Peridot collapsed and Steven caught her in his arms. He turned her over so she faced him. It was a little bit awkward since Peridot was twice his size with her limb enhancers, but he didn't care. Peridot looked at him with a sad expression. Her left eye was forced shut and her visor had cracked. Every couple of seconds her form would flicker like a glitch in a video game. She was breathing hard and moaning softly in pain.

Tears swam in Steven's eyes, dripping onto Peridot's broken visor. "Peridot, don't die!" He screamed.

Peridot spoke, but her voice sounded static-like every time her form glitched and her sentences were interrupted like a person with hiccups. Her eyes shimmered with tears as well. "Steven, I'm so sorry… this is- all my fault."

Steven suddenly remembered his healing spit. "Wait, I can heal you!" he licked his hand and slapped Peridot's gem. He waited expectantly for a moment, but nothing happened. Steven was now panicking. "It's not working! Hold on, let me try again, I'll-"

Peridot cut him off. "Steven, don't! I don't- deserve it. Just- let me die and- I won't be your problem anymore."

Steven was still in full panic, stunned at Peridot's words. "No- of course you deserve it! You have to forgive yourself! I already have!"

Peridot looked at him with a defeated expression. She couldn't ever forgive herself for what she had done.

Suddenly, an idea hit Peridot's muddled mind- an idea of how she could fix the mess she made and make it up to the Crystal Gems. If it succeeded, she might destroy her own gem. If it failed, Steven and the Gems would be captured and killed.

But she had to do it- it was the only way she could ever forgive herself. She looked at Steven with a new determination in her eyes. She attempted to place as much bravery and affirmation into her tone as possible, but it proved extremely difficult and she could only muster a weak, strained stream of words.

"Steven- I know how to fix this. I can save you but- you need to- get back to the others. Form a- bubble around them and yourself, and I'll- deal with this."

Steven looked at her in surprise. "No way! I'm not leaving you! I have to heal you and you're coming with us!"

Peridot put as much pleading into her eyes as possible- she was too weak to try and win an argument so she resorted to begging. "Steven, you have to. If you don't, the Gems will be captured again and you'll all be killed. I can save you, but you have to leave me here. You have to listen!" Steven opened his mouth to protest again, and Peridot gave one last weak plea. "Please… let me do this for you."

Steven looked at Peridot and the look in her eyes- he knew had she not been cracked, she would have argued with him until she won and had her way. He understood her reasoning- he knew that she was right, but he couldn't bring himself to abandon her. "No, Peridot. I can't leave you."

Peridot sighed- she expected this. Steven was always very persistent. She knew what she had to do. As her form flickered again, she closed her eyes and said, "Then I'll help you." Mustering all her strength, Peridot pushed herself out of Steven's arms and thrust out one of her limb enhancers, activating her tractor beam. A green light shot out of the middle of her hand and enveloped Steven in a bubble, freezing him in place. As she lifted him off the ground, he let out one last protest. "Peridot…"

She ignored him. Gritting her teeth, Peridot swung her arm around and threw Steven back in the direction of the Crystal Gems. He hurtled through the air and collided with Garnet. Pearl and Amethyst were mere feet away, and Steven knew that he had no choice now. He shouted, "Guys, over here!" and immediately all of the Gems ran over to him. As soon as they were in close enough proximity, Steven summoned a bubble, enveloping the four in a large pink orb. The Homeworld soldiers began banging on it, attempting to break it. Garnet whipped her head around to Steven. "Steven, what are you doing? You know you can't hold out long like this!" she yelled.

Steven responded quickly, "Peridot's going to help! She told me to do this so we would be safe!"

Amethyst cut in, "Steven, what could she possibly do? Her gem is cracked!" Pearl then added, "And she just betrayed us!"

Steven quickly counterattacked. "She also just spared my life! She cares about us; otherwise, she would have blasted me without question! Doesn't that matter at all?"

Pearl jumped as an amethyst slammed into the bubble behind her. "But how do you know she's telling the truth, or that she'll actually be able to do anything?"

Steven looked Pearl directly in the eyes with an affirmative stare. "Because I trust her."

* * *

As soon as Peridot tossed Steven and her tractor beam dissipated, she collapsed to the ground. She regained enough strength just in time to lift her head and see a pink bubble erupt in the crowd of soldiers. Peridot hesitated a moment, unsure if her plan would work or if she would be able to pull through. But she had to.

With great effort, Peridot pushed herself up again. She glanced at Steven for what may be the last time and seeing his determined expression filled her with courage. Peridot activated her concentrated blaster. Electricity began crackling on her arm attachments, waiting to be released into the ground. However, Peridot kept her focus on the blaster, pouring more and more energy into it. She was told never to charge it up too much because it may overwork her gem and destroy her physical form. However, she no longer heeded the warning. Peridot pressed on, her arm extensions quickly beginning to glow from the large amount of electricity built up inside them. Peridot's form kept flickering- but still, she pressed on, creating more power. Soon the arms could not store all of the energy at once, and it began coursing through Peridot's body as well. Peridot barely suppressed a scream, and almost gave into the pain then and there.

Then she thought of the Crystal Gems- her friends. She remembered Steven's smiling face, his comforting hugs as she had cried into his shoulders. Peridot remembered Amethyst's amazing sense of humor and great company, and how she could always make Peridot laugh. Pearl's skill as both a technician and fighter came to mind, and how her determination always inspired Peridot to go all in when she worked on the drill. Even Garnet, with her mysterious nature and emotionless thumbs-up, somehow made Peridot happy to be around.

As all of these memories coursed through her mind, it gave Peridot the last amount of strength she needed. She put in all of her effort and energy, pressing on for just a little bit longer. She didn't even notice when Yellow Diamond turned her attention towards her in shock, as did the Homeworld soldiers, as her body lit up and shined yellow from the incredibly high amount of electricity.

A single tear fell down Peridot's cheek and onto the rocky ground. But it was not a tear of grief or sadness. Instead, it was a tear of joy as Peridot smiled beneath the yellow glow.

 _Do it for them._

With a final scream, Peridot released the energy. Sparks of electricity jumped through the ground, erupting out of every spot like lava from a volcano. The electricity found its way into the Homeworld soldiers, the sparks crawling like spiders on their bodies as they let out cries of pain. One by one, each physical form was destroyed and left behind only the gem, which lay harmlessly on the ground. Yellow Diamond collapsed to one knee, grimacing in pain, but did not poof.

Steven watched through his bubble, the jaws of him and the Crystal Gems dropping. The electricity circled the bubble, poking at it to get in. But the sparks could not penetrate the protective barrier that surrounded the four. From inside the bubble, they were safe.

However, Peridot did not get to see any of it- because the second she released the energy she erupted into a green cloud and her limb enhancers clanked to the ground, with her gem hidden among the debris.


	17. Chapter 17: Sealing the Cracks

**What's up, guys? Welcome back to Crystal's End. Sorry, it's been awhile- I've been putting this off, as always. I already have the final chapter and epilogue written and just need to proofread them, which I was going to publish immediately after this, but it's midnight and I'm tired and I didn't proofread this- so sorry for errors. I promise that the final chapter and epilogue will be out tomorrow- so have fun with this one for now and get yourselves hyped for the ending because I'm really proud of it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

The moment the electricity dissipated, Steven's bubble dematerialized and he sank to his knees, exhausted. The Crystal Gems looked around in complete shock and awe at the damage Peridot had done. The Kindergarten was littered with gemstones, and parts of the Homeworld ship had been charred and blackened. But next to the ship was Yellow Diamond, and she did not seem affected at all. It would take much more than that to defeat a diamond.

As the Crystal Gem's eyes landed on Yellow Diamond, they summoned their weapons again, ready to fight. Yellow Diamond took a step back, seemingly anxious. All of her soldiers were gone- she was alone. She might be able to fight back the rebels, but it was too risky. Yellow Diamond quickly backed up to the top of the ship and activated the elevator in the palm of the hand. "Don't think this is over, Crystal Gems! You may have won today, but I'll be back soon!"

As she spoke, she disappeared inside the vessel. Moments later, the ship rose into the air, balling into a fist. Suddenly a loud _BOOM!_ was heard as the ship shot away, leaving Earth behind. The force knocked the Crystal Gems over, and they stared at the open sky for a moment. Suddenly Amethyst yelled up towards the sky, "Yeah- you better run, you coward!" Pearl stood back up immediately after Garnet did, and grabbed her arm. "We won!" she yelled joyfully. "We won! Isn't this great, Steven?"

The Gems turned to look at the boy, but he wasn't there. They looked around the Kindergarten, worried, but found him a few feet away, kneeling over the pile of Peridot's limb enhancers. Panicking, he shoved the various metal attachments to the side in search of her gem. He found it- a small, triangular stone at the bottom of the pile. He picked it up and hugged it, relieved, until he raised it up to look at it again. The crack had worsened- the crevices were stretching out nearly to the edges of Peridot's gem. The stone had also turned a much duller and pale shade of green. He gasped, and then ran back over to the Crystal Gems, carrying the gemstone.

"Guys!" he yelled. "It's Peridot's gem! Look!" He held it up for them to see. They all recoiled in shock and gasped. Steven started crying again. "She's going to die! I tried to heal her, but…" Suddenly, Steven remembered his mother's healing fountain. If his healing spit wasn't working, it was the only way he could save Peridot. Determinedly, he said, "We need to take her to Mom's healing fountain! Let's get to the warp pad, fast!"

The Gems hesitated for a moment, unsure. However, before they could say anything, Steven was overcome with anger at their uncertainty. He yelled, "How could you be like that? I can't believe you! Peridot just saved us all and she's going to die if we don't do something, and you're hesitating? How could you still not trust her after she sacrificed her _life_ for us? Healing her is the least we could do to pay her back!"

The Gems were shocked at his tone- Steven had never been this angry before. But they realized that he was right- they shouldn't be mistrusting of Peridot anymore. Silently agreeing with a chorus of nodding, Garnet said, "Okay, Steven- you're right. Let's go-"

Garnet didn't even get to finish her sentence. Immediately after she agreed, Steven ran right past the Gems towards the warp pad. They quickly followed after him. Steven got to the pad first, and without even waiting for the others, was enveloped in the bright blue light and shot up into the sky. The Gems quickly followed suit.

Inside the warp stream, Steven held Peridot's gem to his chest. "Hold on just a little longer, Peridot." He said to it. "We're almost there." Almost as soon as he said this, though, he glanced at the gem and the crack expanded. Her gem now looked like it would shatter at the slightest disturbance. Steven yelped in panic, and attempted to will the stream to warp faster. He knew it probably had no effect, but he tried anyway. Moments later, the light faded from around him and in front of him stood Rose's healing sanctuary. Unlike last time, there were no vines obstructing the garden, and the fountain in the center was clearly visible as rose petals fluttered around the area.

Steven immediately took off towards the center of the garden towards the fountain. As soon as he stepped off the warp pad, the Gems warped in behind him. Quickly spotting him, they ran after him. "Steven, wait for us!" Pearl yelled.

Steven ignored them, running faster. He needed to heal Peridot's gem before it shattered. He reached the fountain very quickly. What Steven could have done was dip Peridot's gem into the pinkish water calmly. However, he instead continued charging, and holding the gem, leaped into the water along with it. He created a large splash as he sank into the pool of liquid, still holding Peridot's gem very tightly in his hand. Five seconds passed, then ten. Steven stayed under as long as possible, giving the gem as much of the healing essence as possible as he held his breath.

A few moments later, he resurfaced, gasping for air. The Gems were standing on the edge of the fountain, looking nervous. As soon as they saw Steven's head rise back above the water, they collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Steven quickly climbed out of the water, flopping onto the ground like a beached whale. He raised his hand in front of his face and looked at Peridot's gem.

He smiled at what he saw. Gone were the cracks and crevices, which were now completely filled. The brilliant green color had returned, and the gem looked as good as new. Pearl came to Steven's side and helped him up. "Steven! Are you okay?" she asked. Steven nodded as he kept looking at the gem in his hand. He waited expectantly for Peridot to reform- she was healed now, after all.

But for the next few moments, nothing happened. He looked back at the Gems nervously- had something gone wrong? "Guys, why isn't she coming out?" He asked.

Garnet put a hand on his shoulder and looked at the gem. She quickly reassured him. "Steven, Peridot's gem is fine now. But just because her gem is no longer cracked doesn't mean she's going to immediately reform. Like the rest of us when we retreat into our gem, she needs time to heal. In a few days, she'll be back. Just give her some time."

Relieved, Steven nodded. He stood there for another moment as Pearl and Amethyst joined Garnet and provided a silent comfort. He put Peridot's gem in his pocket, imagining and anticipating the happy moment when Peridot would reform and they would be reunited.

* * *

A little while later, the Gems and Steven had returned to the Kindergarten to "clean up". The four were picking up each gemstone, bubbling them, and then sending them back to the Temple. The day became an endless process of picking up a gem, forming a bubble, and tapping the top.

At some point, Pearl said, "It's really quite shocking that Yellow Diamond left all of these gems. She brought so many, and she didn't even try to save a single one."

Garnet sighed and responded. "Of course Yellow Diamond left them. With her soldiers unable to fight for her, she was alone and outnumbered. She had to flee- she only cared about her own safety." Pearl nodded in understanding.

Then Amethyst joined the conversation. "Of course she fled- she was a coward to begin with! The really amazing thing is that Peridot was able to poof all of them- it was really brave of her."

The Gems exchanged glances at the mention of Peridot- they weren't sure what to think of her anymore. She had betrayed them and almost gotten them killed. But then she had made up for it- she had risked shattering herself to save them. The Gems thought about this for a little while more. They all nodded in silent agreement- they would forgive Peridot and leave this behind them. She had proven where her loyalties lay and showed that she cared about the Crystal Gems.

Garnet, sensing what Pearl and Amethyst were thinking, added, "Besides, there isn't a chance that Peridot could turn again. She disobeyed Yellow Diamond and wiped out an entire battalion of her soldiers. Yellow Diamond will no doubt shatter her if they ever meet again."

Steven was on the other side of the Kindergarten- still in their view, but unable to hear what the Gems were saying. He had kept his focus on bubbling the gems in his section- it was a little more exhausting for him. Peridot's gem was in his pocket- he was keeping it close to him until she reformed. He knew that she would be okay- if Garnet said so, he believed it. But he couldn't help a small part of him deep down still be anxious for her- he did care about her, after all.

As he was walking to pick up another amethyst's gem, he spotted a pile of green and black items out of the corner of his eye. Stopping and turning his head, he saw the pile of Peridot's limb enhancers. They were scattered everywhere after Steven had thrown them aside in search of her gem, but all ten fingers and four limbs were present and accounted for. Steven hesitated a moment, unsure of what to do. Then he remembered Peridot, and how much the metal parts meant to her. Making up his mind, he walked over and scooped them up.

A moment later the Gems walked over to him, coming to assist him with the rest of his bubbling. Pearl began speaking, "Steven, we finished our areas, so we'll be done after-" Pearl didn't finish her thought as she saw Steven with Peridot's limb enhancers in his arms. She instead asked him, "Steven, are you thinking of bringing those back?" he nodded.

The Gems stood for a moment, unsure if they should allow it. Then they remembered their agreement to forgive Peridot, and how somehow these metal parts made her feel so much better. They trusted Steven, and he trusted Peridot, so they were willing to trust her too. Garnet walked and put a hand on Steven's shoulder in approval.

"Good idea, Steven. I'm sure Peridot will be happy to see them whenever she comes back to us."

Steven took her gem out of his pocket. He smiled at it and hoped Peridot could see it from wherever she was inside of it.


	18. Chapter 18: A Second Chance

**Hey guys, welcome to the final chapter of Crystal's End. Excuse me while I go cry. Anyway, there's going to be an epilogue after this, but it'll be uploaded at the same time as this chapter. Also, I have a surprise! I went back and corrected all of the errors in all the previous chapters, and named the chapters as well! I hope you guys like it. Anyway, enjoy this last chapter and I'll leave a farewell note at the end of the epilogue.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

Steven lay down outside the barn next to the chalkboard. The sun was just setting, creating a beautiful twilight palette. Steven laughed softly and sat up. "Look, Peridot! The sunset's really pretty today… it's too bad you won't come out to see it!"

He shot a glance to the right, where Peridot's gem lay, swaddled in a towel. If Peridot heard what Steven said from inside it, she didn't respond- the gem remained still. Steven sighed sadly. "I really miss you. Why won't you come out?" He felt stupid, talking to a gemstone that wasn't going to respond. But it didn't matter to him- if that was what it would take to get Peridot to come out, he would keep talking until she regenerated just to tell him to shut up.

Just then, the Gems walked over to Steven. Garnet sat down and picked Steven up, dropping him into her lap. Amethyst knelt down over Peridot's gem. "Man, she's still in there? I even admit that I'm getting bored without her. I have nobody to make fun of!"

Pearl sat down next to Garnet. Steven looked up at the fusion sadly. "Garnet, it's been a week. Why isn't she done yet?"

Pearl looked at Steven. "Steven, remember that I took _two_ weeks to regenerate- she's only been in there for one. Though it's true we haven't made much progress on the drill without her. She was always there to boss us around and make sure we did everything right." Pearl smiled a little, trying to cheer Steven up. However, his frown did not leave.

"Yeah, but I thought she'd want to come back as soon as possible." He said. Garnet looked down at him and softly reassured him. "Peridot will be back soon, Steven. When a gem's physical form is destroyed while they are cracked, more often than not the gem will… shatter. It's truly remarkable that Peridot had enough strength to keep her gem together. It's going to take a little bit longer for her to heal from that."

Steven glanced at the other Gems. "When she comes back… will you guys be supportive? I know it might be hard to forgive her, but…"

Amethyst interrupted him. "Don't worry about it, dude. We already forgave her. She did save our butts, after all."

Pearl laughed lightly. "So, yes- we'll be as welcoming as possible whenever she comes back."

As if on cue, Peridot's gem suddenly began to glow. Steven's eyes lit up, and he immediately shoved all of the Gems backwards, shouting ecstatically. "Peridot's coming back! Give her some space!"

The gem rose into the air and began spinning slightly. A white blob emerged from the gem, expanding and shaping itself until it finally looked like an outline of Peridot. The white light slowly materialized, becoming more green and defined. Soon enough, there was Peridot, who dropped to the ground with a soft thud. She looked around for a second, confused, when her eyes locked onto all of the Crystal Gems, staring at her in shock. They were staring specifically at her chest and knees. Gone were the yellow diamond symbols, and in their place were three simple, yellow stars, with one on each knee and a slightly larger one on her chest. Peridot blushed and crossed her arms. "I… thought I might keep it simple for now."

The Gems kept staring at her, and she began twisting her foot in the grass nervously. "Listen, I'll never be able to express in words how sorry I am for what I've done. I sold you out to Yellow Diamond and almost got you all killed. I know that I deserve no better than shattering, but I hope that in time- Eep!"

Peridot squeaked slightly as Steven wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her in a tight hug. She smiled, jokingly scolding him. "Take it easy, you clod! Do you want me to poof again?" Suddenly Steven's hug was joined by Pearl's, and then Amethyst's, and then Garnet's. Pearl smiled and said, "Peridot, stop beating yourself up over it. You might have messed up, but everybody makes mistakes. The important thing, though, is that you saved us."

Garnet gave a mischievous grin and added in. "Everybody deserves a second chance- including clods like you."

Peridot laughed and shoved Garnet away "Hey! How dare you steal my word!" And they were laughing, and Peridot was beaming along with them.

Suddenly, Peridot stood up tall in front of the Gems and spoke proudly and confidently.

"Well, there's no use denying the fact that I've probably endangered us all. Homeworld is going to have it out for us now more than ever. Along with that, we still need to deal with other tasks, such as the drill. I doubt any of you got much done without me," she smiled smugly at this, making Steven giggle and Pearl roll her eyes, although she was smiling. Peridot continued, "So by my calculations, we can get it done in about four days. Then there's the looming issue of… Malachite. Lazuli can't keep control forever and eventually, she'll be loose." The Gems exchanged uneasy glances. _Where was Peridot going with this?_

Peridot gave a determined smile, her eyes filled with passion. "But I know we can do it! Because we are the Crystal Gems, and we've come this far already! So let Homeworld throw whatever they've got at us! I know we can take it, as long as we do it together!" Peridot pumped her fist in the air.

Pearl clapped enthusiastically. Amethyst cheered- "Yeah, Peri!" Steven's face lit up in a huge, gaping smile, his eyes filled with pride at Peridot's inspirational speech. Garnet… well, you could guess what she did- she stuck a thumb up and gave an approving smile. And Peridot smiled along with her, happier than ever.

* * *

An hour or so later, Peridot sat alone on the roof of the barn. At the moment, her limb enhancers were equipped, which made sitting in her trademark "hugging her knees to her chest" position rather difficult. Steven had given them back to her a little bit ago. "We trust that you're not going to kill us with them." He had said with a smile. Peridot lifted one extended arm up to her face, flexing the hovering fingers in a bored manner. The attachments were blackened to some extent since they had been charred from the electric buildup- and multiple fingers were completely black. Her leg attachments also looked odd with the new stars on her knees since they cut them off at the bottom. Wearing them made her feel odd- so many bad memories were now associated with the metal parts. Peridot realized she didn't really like wearing them much anymore.

She was about to take them off when suddenly an idea hit her mind. There was one more thing she needed to do. Peridot opened up a finger screen and pressed a button to begin recording a log. She knew that Yellow Diamond would be able to view and listen to her logs- and that's exactly why she was recording it.

"Log Date… whatever it is now. Whenever you're hearing this, it's probably the last log on the list- and I intend to keep it that way. When I first arrived on Earth, my mission was to check on the Cluster, which, as whoever is listening probably knows, failed miserably. I used to pride myself on it- being of service to Homeworld- but no longer. If this is Yellow Diamond- I renounce my loyalty to you. I am no longer Peridot Facet 2F5L, Cut 5XG of the Yellow Diamond Court. I am now Peridot of the Crystal Gems, guardians of the planet Earth. Destroy all evidence of me if you want to- get rid of this log, even. But that won't change the fact that you heard it, and I am satisfied with that. Go ahead and add me to the list of Rebels that are no longer of importance to you- I never was important to you anyway. But I'm important to the Crystal Gems, and that's all I'll ever need. Peridot- Facet 5, End Log."

As Peridot closed her finger screen, she heard the soft pitter patter of feet on the roof. Moments later, Steven appeared beside her and sat down. He smiled. "Those look weird on you now- they're all burned up and clash with your stars."

Peridot giggled along with him. He continued. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know you can keep those on- I know you like feeling taller and prouder."

Peridot looked over at Steven, and asked, "Can we get down from here?" Steven nodded, and a few moments later they were on the barn floor. Steven began to ask, "Peridot, why did you-"

He didn't get to finish his thought. Smiling, Peridot removed her limb enhancers right in front of him. He watched in shock as they slid off of her arms and legs, the fingers dropping lifelessly to the floor. As she shook off the last leg attachment, Steven said in a shocked voice, "Peridot, what are you doing?" Peridot didn't respond, still smiling as she scooped up her discarded attachments. She brushed past him and walked out of the barn towards the rest of the Gems, who were sitting in the field. Steven followed her in confusion. The Gems saw her coming, and looked at her with surprise. As she arrived, she looked directly at Garnet, and then poured the metal parts into her lap. "Garnet, could you please throw these into the ocean next to my other ones?" Garnet suddenly understood, and smiled. Playfully, she said in a whiny voice, "I don't know… it's a long way by warp pad and these things are really heavy…"

Garnet was interrupted as Peridot smirked, lowering her head. When she raised it again, she was wearing one of the best puppy faces Garnet had ever seen. Her eyes were big and pleading, and her mouth was curled in a small frown. Peridot knew she would have to use it at some point- Steven's Earth lessons had paid off.

Garnet sighed and tossed the limb enhancers to the side. "I'll do it later." She said. Peridot sat down in the grass next to the other Gems, and Steven quickly followed suit. "Peridot, are you sure you don't want them?"

Peridot turned to look at the boy, beaming. "I'm sure, Steven. You were right- I should be happy with who I am. I don't need high heels to feel important." Steven cracked up at her joke, as did Amethyst. Peridot was glad she was able to make them laugh. Without her limb enhancers, she felt whole. The part of her that was supposed to feel absent without her limb enhancers was not empty- rather it felt completed because of the joy of having people who cared about her- The Crystal Gems. Again, the thought that Peridot was defective crossed her mind. However, she smiled even brighter at the thought. _Who cares if I am?_

Peridot suddenly felt Garnet's hands under her arms as she lifted her off the ground and into her lap. Steven and Amethyst crawled onto Garnet's lap on either side of her, squeezing her in another hug. Pearl came and sat down in front of them, tousling Steven and Peridot's hair. Garnet softly said. "I'm proud of you, Peridot." As Peridot pulled herself farther into the group hug, she sighed contentedly. She quietly said,

"So am I."


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Steven and Peridot sat once again on the roof of the barn, the Crystal Gems having left for the night. Peridot was lying down beside Steven, brushing her fingers against a flower that Steven had stuck in her hair earlier. At the moment, the two were indulging in an activity that Steven had called "stargazing". There were many stars in the sky that night, all shimmering in the black void of space. Peridot gave a small, content sigh. She had flown through space thousands of times, but not once in her life had she actually realized how beautiful it was. _It's funny…_ she thought, _Out of all the times I was up there, I never gave it a single thought._

Steven had taught Peridot a game that he and Connie loved to play- making up constellations. At the moment, Steven was pointing up into the sky, explaining his latest one to Peridot. "That one's Canis Helicopteris- do you see it up there? That circle makes the head, and those ones over there make a propeller on his back!" Steven had stolen that one from Connie, but he wasn't going to tell Peridot that. He crossed his arms and gave her a smug look. "Beat that, Peridot!"

Peridot sat up, accepting the challenge. "Ha! With ease!" she looked up into the sky, searching for stars she could use to form a shape using her imagination. Steven watched her, looking at the stars reflecting in her visor. Within a few moments, she had a constellation ready. She pointed up to the sky and began her explanation. "That one up there is…" she struggled to come up with a name. She made one up out of the first two words that came to her mind- and said words happened to be a certain gem she knew. "Tigris Eyeris. This constellation forms a shape similar to a creature known to humans as a "cat". Its key stars and galaxies include the Helix Nebula over there, and then-"

Peridot stopped as her finger landed on one individual galaxy, shining brighter than many of the others. She immediately recognized it- it was Homeworld's galaxy. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with complicated, bittersweet feelings and memories. Peridot lowered her hand and hugged her knees to her chest. Steven noticed this, and he also knew she only sat in that position when she was deep in thought, or feeling angry or sad. He glanced back up at the galaxy- and then recognized it as well. Garnet had pointed it out to him once, and he immediately understood why it bothered Peridot. He sat for a moment, unsure of what to do. He then scooted closer to the little green gem until his side pressed against hers. He put one hand on her shoulder as she raised her head. At the moment, he couldn't offer her anything more than the comfort of his presence. He mustered what encouraging words he could, and put them together in a small speech.

"Peridot, I'm sorry that you can never go back to Homeworld. I know it's difficult to leave those feelings behind, and that some things you just will never be able to fully forget." Peridot glanced up at him, and he noticed a single tear forming in her eye. He quickly continued.

"It's entirely our fault. You were right the night you yelled at me- if we had just left you alone, you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be back on Homeworld with Yellow Diamond. But, that isn't a bad thing. You said it yourself; here on Earth, you're free. Free to choose, free to try new things, free to be yourself. Yellow Diamond might consider you defective, but what she thinks doesn't matter, because it's not the truth. You can feel emotions now and try new things, something you were never able to do under her control. It'll take time for you to heal from this, I know. But if you ever need to talk about it, know that we're here for you. We all love you, Peridot, and you're one of us now- a Crystal Gem. And like a crystal, you shine brightly by being yourself- not by being an emotionless robot. I-I'm just sorry you can never go home."

Peridot stared for a moment, with Steven's words sinking in. Steven looked away, hoping he had gotten through. A moment later, Steven felt Peridot's arms wrap around his waist and drag him closer to her. Peridot rested her head on Steven's shoulder, and he could see that she was smiling. She squeezed him harder, and together they looked back up at the sky as Steven returned the hug. At that moment, a shooting star zoomed by above them, creating a perfect, beautiful scene.

"Oh, Steven… I already am home."

* * *

 **And that's a wrap, I guess.**

 **IT'S OVER, ISNT IT? (ok I'm sorry I'll stop now)**

 **Anyway, first off I would like to thank everybody who read this fanfic and I hope you enjoyed it. Reading all of your reviews made me so happy- there wasn't a single negative review throughout this whole journey.**

 **And now the most pressing problem- now that this is over, I have nothing to do with my life anymore. I need to create a new idea for a major project like this one soon or I'll die of boredom. Of course, for my next major story I'm intending on making Peridot a center focus, but this time I hope to include Lapis as well since they're barn mates now. She is my favorite character alongside Peridot and I adore their relationship (although I'm not a Lapidot fan, I mean just as friends). So look forward to that, whenever it happens and I come up with a good enough idea.**

 **In the meantime, while I think of something, I'll be writing multiple one-shot fanfictions to fill the void in my life. Most of them will focus around Peridot (obviously) and most likely will be a cinnamon roll thing related to discovering new things on Earth, or something that I want to happen in the show (cough cough Lapidot fusion). Anyway, keep your eye out for those on my account.**

 **Thank you all again, and farewell for now.**


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